Never Said Never
by SawyerAfterMe27
Summary: As Lucas and Peytons wedding draws near, Brooke find herself spiraling further and further into darkness. How long can she hold out until she snaps? And when will she finally stop avoiding her friend? Breyton eventually. It will get there. I promise.
1. Chapter 1

Brooke drove home from therapy that night in silence, the windows and roof of her convertible beetle up and the radio off. She kept her eyes on the road, a firm grip on the steering wheel, and concentrated on breathing.

It was suddenly very difficult.

The brunette replayed the day in her head, scanning briefly over everything that had transpired, and was suddenly uneasy. Her therapist had told her to fill the new void she was feeling… but how? Everything she had worked so hard for was gone now. And Victoria…. Brooke didnt want to think about her mother. So what would fill her void? The brunette recalled her therapist asking her how long shed insist on going through life alone… She didnt know the answer.

The house, thought Brooke knew that it would be, was surprisingly empty as she walked through the door. And with that thought the concept of living alone was suddenly frightening, a foreign threat. But Brooke had been doing it for weeks, months by now, ever since Peyton had disappeared to go marry Lucas. Tonight, though, it all seemed harder, or impossible, and Brooke made up her mind that she was not about to try and do it again for another night. So leaning against the door and pulling her cellphone from her purse, Brooke dialed the numbers that she had learned to associate with only one thing: Home.


	2. Chapter 2

"Okay, do you want me to actually make the dress or not?" Brooke asked, her mood having lifted since Peytons arrival. The blonde only grinned at her, obviously elated.

"Im sorry, Brooke." She said, trying to stand still. "Im just really excited." Brooke smiled softly, enjoying Peytons mood.

"Yeah." She said quietly, coming around from behind Peyton with the tape measurer. She wrapped the tape around the blondes waist, studying the number intently. Peyton watched Brookes face in the mirror, reading it like a book.

"Whats wrong?" She asked gently. Brooke closed her eyes, almost wincing, and pulled away from the blonde. She forced a smile onto her face.

"Its nothing." She lied, and quite obviously. There were too many things going on in her head anyway, she mentally justified, to really be able to explain it to Peyton. Instead, she let her smile grow genuine, a devious grin. "You need to eat." She said. "The tape measurer was telling me negative numbers."

"Oh, shut up!" Peyton said, slapping Brooke playfully. They both laughed as Brooke wrote the waits number down in her little notebook. "I do though, seriously." Brooke looked up.

"You hungry?" She asked. Peyton nodded.

"Yeah."

"Alright, come on."

Full of Chinese food and soda, Brooke and Peyton had returned to Peytons old bedroom. Peyton relaxed on her bed, watching Brooke as she sat in a chair across from her, working thread through white fabric in her lap.

"So tell me about this 'rocker design' you mentioned earlier." Brooke said, not looking up from her project. Peyton grinned, mischief in her eyes, and shifted to lay down on her stomach, her head at the end of the bed.

"Well, I dont want to look trashy, you know? But…. Something very-"

"You?" Brooke interrupted. Peyton shrugged.

"Yeah, maybe. It depends on how you define me though." The blonde thought about it for a while, silence passing briefly. "I dont want feathers." She finally said. This made Brooke look up, and eyebrow cocked.

"That was random." She said. "But I can understand why you wouldnt want to look more like a bird." Peyton grabbed a pillow and hurled it at Brooke, ultimately missing. She didnt appreciate the skinny-legged comment. "Hey!" Brooke yelled. "You cant chuck crap at me when Im working on your wedding dress, P. Sawyer!" The blonde only chuckled. "You wont be laughing when I mess this up."

"Brooke, you havent gotten anywhere." Brooke looked up, glaring.

"NOT the point." A silence fell over them, and Brooke became absorbed in her project not because of what it was, but because of its worth in distracting her from really thinking. Peyton let her eyes wander about the room, missing it a bit. In reality, she missed the whole house, and more so the girl that still lived in it. She fiddled with her ring, the one Ellie had given her before she died, and exhaled slowly.

"So… whats going on with Victoria?"


	3. Chapter 3

That had been the last time in a long time that Peyton had seen Brooke. The brunette had grown frighteningly distant, disappearing entirely from not only Peyton's life, but everyone else's as well.

"Hey, Luke."

"Hey."

"Hi, Peyton."

"Morning." Haley, Nathan, Peyton and Lucas all gathered into Haley and Nathan's kitchen, the latter taking seats at the island in the middle of the room. Through the windows, the sun shined brightly, lighting the room and casting over everything with a golden glow.

"Thanks for inviting us, Nate." Lucas said. Nathan shook his head.

"Sure." He said.

"We wish we could have you guys over more often." Haley started. "God, dont you miss having less responsibility?" Everyone nodded, strongly agreeing. The brunette walked back over to the stove, flipping three pancakes onto their raw sides. Breakfast smells wafted lazily about the room.

"So the weddings coming up right?" Asked Nathan. Both Lucas and Peyton nodded, smiling.

"Less than two weeks." Peyton said, her grin still bright.

"I heard Brookes making your dress." Haley started. "Have any of you heard from her, by the way?" Lucas and Peyton shook their heads.

"Nope." Lucas said. "Its really not like her either, you know, to just dissapear like this."

"Yeah, not without at least a phone call."

"Do we think shes alright? I mean-"

"I hope so." Peyton said.

"Im sure shes fine." Lucas said. "Shes strong."

"You say it like you think shes having trouble." Haley put in.

"She might be." Peyton said. "She gave Clothes over Bros to Victoria, so-"

"She did??" Nathan asked.

"Yeah, honey. I told you that." Haley said to Nathan, returning to the stove. The brunette boy didn't remember.

Lucas woke up around midnight to a cold, empty half of the bed. He glanced up, sleepy, and saw his fiancé sitting on the edge of the bed, wide awake. But he wasn't surprised: It wasn't the first time she'd woken up at this hour.

"Peyton…" He grumbled, half-awake. "What's wrong?" The thin blonde turned, crossing her legs to sit and better face Lucas.

"I haven't heard from Brooke in weeks. I'm scared, Luke. What if something happened to her?" Lucas sighed, propping himself up on his forearm, letting the sheets fall from his torso.

"Im sure shes fine, Peyton." He said gently. "But knowing you nothing is going to convince you that shes fine until you see it for yourself." He reached out and placed his hand over hers. "Why dont you go check on her? Then maybe youll actually get some sleep?" Peyton nodded, a thin smile on her lips.

"Okay." She said quietly, and bent down to kiss Lucas. "I love you." She said, standing.

"I love you, too."


	4. Chapter 4

When Peyton arrived at Brooke's an ominous feeling rose in her chest, simultaneously repelling and drawing her in. The blonde sat in her car, the engine off, and stared at the house she had become so familiar with. A part of her was half-tempted to just go back home, but her nerves wouldn't allow such an action, and so she stepped out of the car. Knocking on the front door, Peyton found that it was locked, and she pulled her copy of the key from her leather jacket and went inside. "Brooke?" She called as she closed the door behind her. There was no answer. She called out again. "Hey, Brooke!" Flipping the lights on that hung above the landing, she penetrated deeper into her old home. Her chucks were silent against the hard wood floors as she rounded the corner and mounted the staircase. They creaked under her light weight. Ascending into the second floor of the house, Peyton saw an elongated shadow cast out onto the floor of the hallway from the light of the master bath. She approached the room quickly. "Brooke, I've been calling you." The blonde said, not quite impatient. "Where have you been?" Peyton stepped further into the room. She found herself unable to take her eyes away from Brooke's face, hypnotized by the haunting expression her eyes held. She shuddered subtly, following the brunette's gaze to a relatively small mirror that appeared to have a football game plan written out on it in lipstick. Peyton stepped forward, curious and a little frightened now. "Brooke… what is this?" She asked, the strength in her voice muted to something similar to a whisper. Brooke didn't look at Peyton when she answered her, but instead kept her eye trained on the mirror hanging before her. "There's something I need to tell you." Brooke couldn't look at Peyton, afraid of what she would say now, if anything. It felt like an hour since the blonde had uttered a word, and at this point her next sentence was unpredictable. Brooke waited. "You could've told me." The blonde said, looking at Brooke from the other side of the couch. The had migrated downstairs some time before Brooke told Peyton everything.

"I wanted to, Peyton. I did. But you sounded so happy on the phone about… Lucas." The brunette hesitated, trying not to trip and eat shit over her own words. "I didn't want to dump on you."

"Seriously? Honey, we're better friends than that. And that's not even the point. You were _mugged_, Brooke! In your own store! That's not something to just blow off because you don't want to make me sad! God… I… Did you tell anyone?" At this, Brooke nodded.

"I told Deb." She said. Peyton sighed, closing her eyes. How could she have been so stupid before? Falling down the stairs? That was probably the worst lie Brooke had ever told, and somehow Peyton had believed… Maybe she just wanted to believe it? Rather than something worse?

"Look at me, Brooke." Peyton said gently. The brunette shifted her eyes up from her lap. "Please dont hold anything back from me again, okay? Next time you need anything, or if anything happens to you, and I dont care where I am, you let me know."

"Okay."

"Im serious." Peyton said, a smile growing on her face. Brooke nodded, smiling a little too. A tear rolled down her cheek. "Aw, hey. None of that." Peyton said. "Cmere." The blonde opened her arms, pulling Brooke into an embrace. For a brief moment, the brunette relaxed in her friends arms, letting all her previous pain and regret melt away. "I love you." The blonde said, and Brooke tensed almost instantly, pulling away.

"Your wedding is coming up soon." She said, standing up and wiping the tears from her face. "You should go home to your husband." The second part left a bitterness in the air, a delicious mix of pain and anger. Peyton felt lost, unsure what to say.

"Brooke….?"

"Goodnight, Peyton." Brooke said sternly, not looking at the blonde.

"What did I-"

"Just go home, Peyton."


	5. Chapter 5

"So, tell me about your dress." Lucas said, lying down on the spacious mattress. Peyton smirked.

"Nice try, Luke." She said. "But you won't know _anything_ until the wedding day." The blonde paused. "Besides, Brooke isn't even done with it… or at least, she hasn't told me if she is."

"Still haven't heard from her?" Lucas asked. Peyton shook her head, laying down on the bed with him.

"Not a word. She's not returning my calls, my texts- I even emailed her and she still didn't respond. Brooke's avoiding me and I don't know why." Lucas gave Peyton a look, and the blonde instantly opened her mouth to protest. "Don't give me that look like you think this is my fault!" She grabbed a pillow and beat him with it. "Ever since I went over to talk to her last time…." Peyton tried to think. "I was nothing but nice to her. What the hell could I have said?"

"Maybe nothing." Lucas said. Peyton's brow furrowed. "Maybe she's just struggling with everything that's happened to her lately."

"I guess you're right."

"Think about how broken you were after you were attacked." Peyton shuddered just at the thought. She didn't like to think on it.

"I guess she just needs time." The blonde said. "But I wish she'd hurry up cause I really want my dress." Lucas grinned.

"You are the most sensitive person I know." He said sarcastically. "Maybe we might have to go and get one."

"This late??" Peyton said. "Where the hell from, Good Will?" At this, Lucas laughed.

"Maybe."

"She was _mugged_?" Haley asked, shocked. Peyton nodded grimly.

"Who was mugged?" A small voice asked from across the room. Both Haley and Peyton turned to the living room entrance to find a curious, adorable Jamie standing there.

"Hey, Jim Jam!" Peyton exclaimed, a smile beaming on her face. "Come see Aunt Peyton1" In reality, the young boy knew that Peyton was not his aunt, but the title remained. Jamie ran over to the blonde, jumping into her lap. "Whoa there, buddy." She said, glancing at Haley. "He's gotten big." She said,

"Oh, yes he has." The short brunette agreed. "I wish I knew how to make him stop."

"Momma?"

"Yes, baby."

"Who was mugged?" At this, Haley sighed, quickly thinking of how to deal with her son's question.

"Jamie, do you even know what mugged means?" Jamie looked down, touching the long slender fingers wrapped together around his waist.

"Not really." He said. "Q said it a few times, but I never really knew what he was talking about when he did. He tried to explain it to me once, but then he said to forget it cause it wasn't gonna happen to me anyways." The boy was quiet. "I miss Q." He said finally. The mood in the room plummeted into negative numbers, Haley and Peyton giving each other looks. "But since he never told me, will you tell me, Momma?" Again, Haley sighed gently.

"No one, sweetie." She said. "Why don't you go feed Chester and I'll talk to you about it later?" The blonde boy's face fell, giving him something close to a pout.

"Okay." He said, sliding off of Peyton's lap. "But I know what you're doing." He turned to face his mom. "You always tell me to go feed Chester when you don't want to tell me something. But one day, Chester's gonna pop, and I'll be sad." Haley smiled.

"Chester's not gonna pop, Jamie. I promise. Now go feed him and I'll talk to you in a minute."

"Okay." Jamie said, his spirit's a little higher now that Chester's incredible ability to eat forever was confirmed. He disappeared into the hallway.

Haley turned back to Peyton once her son was out of the room

"What?" She asked, referring to the grin on the blonde's face.

"That kid is too smart for his own good." She said, laughing a little.

"Oh really? Cause I didn't figure _that_ out about a year ago." Peyton chuckled. "But anyway… tell me what happened to Brooke."

Skills shot the ball into the air, sure he would miss before it left his fingertips. His thoughts were confirmed when the orange sphere bounced off of the rim of the basket. The young coach watched it hit the court and roll out into the grass, bumping into a tire of an old vehicle- A Comet.

"Well if it isn't P. Sawyer." He said, smiling. Peyton smiled too, especially in response to Skills use of the pet name Brooke had given her. He started using it somewhere down the road in his own context and from then on it stuck.

"Hey, Skills." She said, pushing off her car and approaching the court, grabbing the basketball on her way over. She straightened and tossed it to him.

"So what brings you here?" Skills asked. Peyton shrugged.

"I'm just trying to clear my head. It's been a little fuzzy lately." She said, looking down at the asphalt of the court. Her artwork was still very visible under her feet, still relatively new. She remembered putting it there like she was there in that night again, and she remembered the strong desire she had felt to get Lucas back. Now, and the feeling shook her hard, she wasn't sure if it had really been worth it.

"You know, Luke used to do his best thinking here." Skills said. Peyton nodded.

"I know." She said. Skills shot the ball again and missed. "That's kinda why I came."

"Aight, so tell me what's on your mind."

"It's Brooke." Peyton said, wandering over to the benches between the court and the river. "She's been acting really…. Unbrooke lately. I went over to see her at few days ago, she hadn't been talking to anyone, you know? She virtually disappeared. But that day she dismissed me pretty quick, and she's never really done that. Not since high school anyway. It's like she hates me."

"Now do you _really _think that?" Skills asked.

"No." She said. "But I tried to make everything better for her, you know? I tried to at least make her feel better… Make her feel safe. And then she told me my wedding was coming up and that I should go home to Lucas." Skills missed his shot again.

"That's it?" He asked.

"Yeah."

"Wow, man. That's messed up." Even though he had listened to everything Peyton said, he still didn't understand the situation.

"I just don't get it." Peyton said, standing again. She watched Skills shoot for the basket again, and this time the ball went in. He went after it, catching up in the middle of the comet on the River Court. The words Peyton had written there months ago brought an idea to his head.

"I think I do." He said quietly.

"What?" Peyton said, not having quite heard him Skills looked up.

"It's about damn time I made that shot." He said.


	6. Chapter 6

Brooke came up to the front of her store, flipping the open sign to closed for the day. She was going home early. After all, there was no use acting like she was really interested in cleaning or organizing the pathetic business she had left to actually call her own. She sighed, looking around, and turned to the front desk, digging in the back for a few sewing materials she liked to keep in the bottom drawer. Throwing them in her purse, the brunette went home.

Upstairs in the third bedroom Brooke had turned into her own makeshift fashion studio, the brunette circled Peyton's wedding dress settled snugly against one of Brooke's three mannequins. This had been the worst project she had ever been assigned, and yet she had taken it on with a half-genuine smile anyway. It wasn't even the fact that her creative flair was limited by her friend's requests and specifications, but by something deeper. By something less shallow. It was the symbolism of the thing. Hell, it was the fact that it was a wedding dress. The brunette stopped, her thoughts irritating her, and stood in front of the dress. She was satisfied with it, in terms of its beauty and attractiveness, but the more she looked it over the more upset she became. Finally, the brunette stepped away from the garment, retrieving a large box just its size from the other side of the room, and began removing the dress from its perch on the mannequin. The fact that she didn't rip the thing apart in the process of removing it was astounding, considering the force she used to do so. Her anger was more than apparent. In one swift movement, Brooke sealed up the box and hoisted it up from the floor, heading outside to her car. It was time to get this thing out of her house.

The doorbell rang and Peyton looked up from her paperwork, surprised to have a visitor at this hour. She stood from the table in the dining room and went to open the front door. A lonely box greeted her at her feet. "What is…?" Peyton started, looking around to see who had left it. She spotted Brooke. "Brooke! Hey! Brooke! What is this?" The brunette paused, then turned to face Peyton, looking straight into her eyes.

"It's your dress." She said, her voice dripping with venom. "I hope it's just the way you wanted it." She turned to leave.

"Brooke, wait!" Peyton said, dropping the lid back down on the box and coming after her friend down the driveway. "Where are you going?"

"Nowhere. Somewhere. I don't know."

"Will you at least look at me?" Brooke stopped again, turning around and coming back up the driveway. Her expression wasn't happy. "Okay… will you at least tell me what I owe you?" Brooke closed her eyes, trying to compose herself.

"Nothing. Just take it."

"I can't, Brooke. I told you I'd pay you in full." The blonde's face was softening, trying to win Brooke over. "How much is it?"

"It's free, Peyton!" Brooke said, stepping far into Peyton's personal space. "Just take the goddamn dress, please!" The brunette backed away, but couldn't get herself to leave.

"What did I… did I do something?" Peyton said, hurt and confused. "Why are you so mad at me?" Brooke sighed, running a hand through her hair.

"I'm not mad, Peyton, okay? I just… God you don't understand how hard it was for me to make that dress." Now Peyton was really confused.

"Wh… then why won't you let me pay for it-"

"It doesn't matter."

"Don't say that." Peyton said. "It matters, Brooke. Whatever it is, it matters. Whatever you say matters. Whatever you think of feel, whatever happens to you, it all matters to me. You matter to me. You will always matter to me. Now will you please tell me what's going on? Cause you've been acting weird for weeks." Brooke's heart was going a million miles an hour, her thoughts moving faster. She was at a loss for what to do or say. The brunette glanced between her and Peyton, judging their close proximity, and then her eyes flickered over Peyton's shoulder at the box on the blonde's porch.

"You see the dress, Peyton?" Brooke asked, her voice returning to its natural, husky tone.

"Yeah." Peyton answered, unsure where Brooke was going with this. The brunette bit her lip.

"I'm sorry… but as long as you're with Lucas I never want to see you in it." Without waiting for a reaction from Peyton, Brooke took the blonde's shock as an opportunity to escape before she did something she'd regret later. Gunning her car's engine, Brooke peel off without looking back.

--

Yay updates! I'm really sorry about that long break of nothingness. Forgive me please? I want to thank all of you who have been following the story so far, and I have much more to give to you, alright? I'll be better about it this week, I promise.


	7. Chapter 7

Deb sat down on the stool in the Peyton's office, surprised by what the blonde had just told her.

"She came to you about the attack… I thought you might know something, or maybe she came to you for other things, too." Deb shook her head.

"You know, Peyton, Brooke's been under a lot of stress lately, and she's been through so much within the past few weeks. I think _you're_ the only safe outlet for her right now."

"But that's the thing! She hasn't been coming to me at all. She's been avoiding me, actually… I really don't get it." The blonde paused, searching her mind for some kind of explanation. She came up short. Deb sighed.

"I don't either," She said gently. "It's not like her… but I guess he hasn't really been herself recently, has she-"

"You don't think she's in love with Lucas, do you?" Peyton blurted out, one explanation just coming to her mind. Deb smiled curiously, then frowned.

"I don't' know." She said. Then she thought on it. "She just might, well… Maybe not. No. I don't think so. I think she and Lucas were done a long time ago. But I may be wrong, Peyton. Contrary to what you believe, she hasn't come to me for anything else since the attack, so the only observations of her I have outside of that situation come from what you tell me. To be honest, I don't think I'm the right person to ask." Peyton sighed, knowing what Deb was implying.

"I guess you're right." She said, drained. Deb reached out to Peyton, resting her hand on the younger blonde's/

"Why don't you try talking to her? Maybe she'll bee cooled off by now."

Skills tapped on Lucas' doorframe, not yet stepping inside the room.

"Hey Luke-"

"Hey, Skills." Lucas interrupted. "What's up?"

"I was wonderin' how the weddin' planning' was goin'" Skills said, smiling warmly. Lucas returned the grin, intensifying it.

"It's going well." He said. "Peyton got her dress a few days ago from Brooke, but I obviously haven't seen it yet." Lucas started laughing. "I saw her lugging a huge box around and when I asked her about it she said 'Brooke dropped my dress off… Oh, and if I catch you peeking youll be in so much pain you'll wish you hadn't married me."

"Damn, dude." Skills said, laughing at his friend. "P. Sawyer is some kinda something'."

"Trust me, I know."

"So how excited are you?"

"I can't even begin, you know? I just… for whatever reason, there's always been something between us. Nathan, Brooke… Lindsey-"

"Whoa, wait a minute. You blaming' B. Davis for this? I mean, I can understand blaming' Lindsey 'n everything, but Brooke? Man that;s messed-"

"No, no! I'm not blaming Brooke at all. I'm talking about that weird love triangle thing we had going in high school for all that time. And then Linds- Well, all I'm saying is that I finally get to be with her, you know? It's like, I can finally just be happy without all that other stuff."

"Yeah and it's about damn time, too man. You know, we all been waiting for you two idiots-"

"Right, right. Thanks. I get it." Lucas smiled. "Sit down."

"I actually wanted to talk to you if you got a second."

"Yeah, sure. What's up?"

"A'ight, look: I was talkin' to P. Sawyer a few days ago down at the River Court and she mentioned Brooke - you know how she been actin' funny for the past few weeks 'n everything - Apparently, she ain't comin' to the weddin'" Lucas looked up from his planner, his eyes squinted in confusion.

"What?" He asked quietly. What Skills said wasn't computing.

"I think she still in love wit you, Luke." Skills said, honestly. Lucas shook her head.

"No. There's no way." He told him. In reality, Lucas knew there very well could be a way. The thought, however, seemed strange. Something didn't fit. He knew Brooke wasn't interested. The brunette hadn't lusted after him in years.

"I don't know. "Skills said. He leaned forward, resting his forearms on Lucas' desk. "Look, maybe you right. Maybe she don't love you still. But then why has she been actin' so funny so close to the weddin; and then say she ain't comin' at all? Somethin's up, man. 'N I don't know about you but I don't like it." The gears were grinding together in Lucas' head, trying to make sense of everything. He couldn't wrap his mind around Brooke still liking him.

"I dunno." He said finally.

" Maybe you should go talk to her."


	8. Chapter 8

Brooke woke up to a gentle knocking on her front door. It was almost impossibly quite for her to have heard in her sleep, but the brunette hadn't been sleeping soundly recently anyway. Slowly, the knock sounding on her door again for the third time, she got up, padding her way into the rest of the house through the hallway. She opened the front door.

"Lucas…" She started, running her hand through her bed-mangled locks. "I don't mean to sound like a bitch, but… what the hell are you doing here this early in the morning?" Lucas looked at Brooke sideways, a smile gracing his lips slowly.

"Brooke, it's two in the afternoon." He said light-heartedly. Brooke stared at him for a minute, then sighed and rubbed her face with her palm, nodding.

"Yeah." She said, not surprised. She yawned. "Sorry. What's up?" She asked. Leaning against the doorframe. The sleepy grumble wasn't gone from her voice just yet. Lucas' hands went immediately to his pockets.

"Actually, I wanted to talk to you."

* * *

"What is this?" Brooke asked, taking the piece of paper from Lucas' hand.

"The check for Peyton's dress." The blue-eyes young man said. "She wanted me to give it to you since I was coming over here." Brooke rejected it immediately.

"I don't want it." She said sternly. Lucas put up his hand.

"Don't bother giving it back to me. If I give it back to her she'll just figure out another way to get the money to you. Trust me, she's real good at that." At this, Brooke smiled, knowing what Lucas was referring to. She slipped the check into her robe pocket.

"'Kay." She said. Then she eyed him for a moment. "So what did you really come over here for? You obviously didn't drive here to pay me for Peyton." Lucas was quite for a moment.

"The wedding…" He started. "I heard you aren't coming." Brooke's posture slumped, her face falling, too. She wasn't sure how to react.

"No." She said. "I can't, Luke. I'm sorry." Lucas gave the brunette a look.

"You know I'm going to ask you why." He said, and it was true. Brooke saw the question coming a mile away.

"It's hard to explain… I can't really say why I just- I can't come." Lucas leaned forward, resting his forearms in his lap.

"We miss you, Brooke. And you not coming to the wedding would really suck." Brooke smiled. "Plus, Peyton wants you to be there." Lucas said tenderly. He watched Brooke, knowing she was thinking hard, considering his words.

"I'll think about it." She said.


	9. Chapter 9

Like it always tends to do, time sped by with great agility, passing everyone by. Before they knew it, the wedding was tomorrow, and tension was flowing in every direction. Everyone, for one reason or another, was jittery. And everyone was waiting for the next day to come and go. Anticipation was a bitch.

"So, are you excited or your big day Mrs. Lucas Scott?" Haley asked Peyton as she settled herself on the couch next to the blonde. She smiled, and Peyton smiled weakly back, unsure of herself. "What's wrong?" Haley asked. Peyton sighed.

"It's just that… I don't know. I've been feeling so off lately. Something's really not right." Haley eyed the blonde, trying to read her.

"What do you mean, 'off'?" She asked. Peyton looked down at her hand, fiddling with the engagement ring on her finger, pulling the piece of jewelry on and off.

"When you married Nathan, did you… Were you nervous?" Peyton asked without looking up. Haley didn't hesitate.

"Of course I was, Peyton. I was still in high school, you know? I… I was jumping into a new life so fast. But I was ready for it. I was strong enough to handle it."

"But did you wonder if you were making a mistake?" The question caught Haley off guard.

"The thought crossed my mind." She answered coolly. "Some things were scary, cause they were so new to me and to Nathan." The short brunette paused. "Please don't tell me you're second-guessing your wedding day before" Peyton looked up, holding the ring in her palm.

"I love Lucas." She said. " I do, but… I'm feeling something I've always felt now. It's like something's telling me he's not the one. I can't make sense of it. But every time I've been with Lucas there's always been something in me separating me from him. And I'm getting really scared. Since the wedding has gotten closer and closer, I've been wondering more and more. That's why I came here. I hoped maybe you could help me."

"Well," Haley started, "what, um, what is it? I mean, what are you feeling, Peyton? Cause if there's something wrong-"

"No, no. It's not that I just…. I know that I love Lucas but I don't think I'm in love with him."

* * *

"Hey, yo, Nate. You seen Luke recently? I've been needin' to talk to him." Nathan glanced at Skills over his shoulder, turning towards the young man from his car.

"No. I haven't seen him all day, actually. I'd look for Peyton: He's probably with her." The tall brunette paused. "Is there anything _I _can help you with?" He asked.

"Naw, not really. I was just following up on Brooke." Nathan nodded, knowing that the two had been working on figuring out a way to get in touch with the brunette. "Well, if you see him let me know, alright?"

"Sure." Nathan said. "I will."


	10. Chapter 10

Brooke grabbed the wedding invitation from her nightstand by her bed as she climbed under the covers reading over the words for the umteenth time. She wasn't going to go. She was going to go. The brunette was brutally torn. More than anything she wanted to be happy for Lucas and Peyton. A wedding was supposed to be one of the best days of a person's life, a moment to be shared with family and friends. But how could Brooke go tomorrow? How could she sit there in the church next to Nathan and Haley, or Mouth? How could she do that on top of watching Peyton come down that aisle, a glowing smile on her face, and not fall apart right then? How could Brooke even stand to look at Peyton in the dress the brunette spent so many painful hours construction, fighting back tears just so she could see the fabric in the machine? How could she hear one word from the wedding vows, or hear and 'I do', or watch them kiss and finalize the ceremony and escape in a life of happiness together? She couldn't. And that was the simple answer. Brooke couldn't do it. And she wouldn't. And yet the brunette had committed the time and address to memory. She knew what she would wear tomorrow, and what makeup she'd put on. She knew she'd get there early, parking close in case she needed to make a quick get away, and even had her alarm set. Still, she knew she wouldn't be doing much sleeping anyway.

Not wanting to continue her thought process anymore, Brooke settled down into her bed, dropping the invitation back on her nightstand and killing the lights. In the darkness, she couldn't have been more awake, and as she laid on her back she felt a tear materialize in her lashes. The brunette closed her eyes, willing no more tears to come, and attempted to charm sleep. Her talents didn't serve her well.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Okay! There's my update. I'm sorry about that mix up I had going earlier. My computer ate my first document and **lied** to me, saying the one I had updated was the correct one. (hence all of the confusion) So again, I'm real sorry about that, but it's fixed now so all is well. As far as in-coming updates, they will arrive soon enough, I promise. I just run a pretty busy schedule and don't have a lot of time to be on this site. Still, expect at least one new chapter by the end of this week if not this weekend. Sound pretty good? Thanks for your patience! *muah* Lots of love. ^_~

~SawyerAfterMe27


	11. Chapter 11

Haley sat on the edge of her sleeping son's bed, smiling warmly down at him.

"Jamie." She said gently. "Jamie." She called again. The boy shifted, but would not yet be shaken from sleep. Haley finally reached out to him, rocking his shoulder. "Jim Jam." She said. "Wake up sweetheart." Slowly, blue eyes emerged from behind sleepy lids, and Jamie stirred from his resting position. He looked over at his mom, taking in that first deep breath of consciousness. He smiled.

"Morning, Momma."

"Good morning, sleepy head. Guess what today is?" Jamie went quiet, his tired mind digging for the right answer. He found it quickly, and shot up into a sitting position.

"Uncle Lucas is getting married today!" He said excitedly. "What time is it?" Haley smiled at her son.

"It's about 10:00, bud." She answered.

"When does the wedding start?"

"Not until noon." At this, Jamie groaned.

"That'll take forever." The little boy said.

"Oh, it will not." Haley corrected, ruffling her son's blonde hair. "Now c'mon, little guy. We're leaving in an hour." The brunette stood up, starting to leave her son's room, when he called after her, pouting.

"I'm not little!" He whined.

* * *

Haley stepped from the steamy bathroom, traveling down the hallway and into her and Nathan's bedroom. Nathan was already there, standing in front of the mirror with an untied tie around his neck, and combing his hair.

"You look handsome." Haley said lovingly, the click of her heels deadening in the carpeting of the room. She approached him, embracing him from behind. In her heels, she was just able to let her jaw rest on his shoulder. Nathan smiled at Haley in the mirror reflection.

"And you look beautiful." He said, turning his head and placing a light kiss on his wife's lips. She kissed him back.

"You wanna get married today?" She asked him, still leaning against him. Nathan laughed.

"For a third time?" He asked.

"Well, Lucas and Peyton getting married makes me remember our wedding and… I loved it so much. Do you remember the wedding?"

"Of course I do." Nathan said. Then there was a pause. "Three time, huh?" He asked. Haley looked at him grinning devilishly.

"Well, it's a charm, isn't it?" She whispered, pulling Nathan's face to hers again. The young man turned to face Haley, pulling her close to him.

"Ewww, gross." A small voice sounded into the room. Both Nathan and Haley smiled, turning to their son. The boy stood in the doorway, cute as could be in his little tux and done-up hair. He looked darling. "Can we go now?" He asked. Nathan nodded, letting Haley go.

"Let's go, buddy." He said.

"Awesome!" Jamie exclaimed, and both of his parents ushered him out of the room, following suit.


	12. Chapter 12

A knock sounded on the door three times before the blonde finally made it across the room. The skirt of her dress was difficult to maneuver in such a hurry.

"Come in." She said, opening the door to whoever was on the other side. Haley stepped through, and upon seeing Peyton, she paused, stunned.

"Peyton, you look… _gorgeous_." She said with a warm smile. "Oh my god you're beautiful."

"Thanks…" Peyton trailed off, not quite sure she was happy about the compliment. Haley took the dress in, examining all the little details Brooke had worked into it. The dress was strapless, a heart-shaped bodice covered fully with intertwining floral patterns and lined with intricate embroidery. The train was modest, but still long enough to draw attention to it, and it ended with matching embroidery.

"Is there anything that you need right now?" Haley asked. "I mean, can I help you at all?" Peyton rubbed her face nervously, careful not to mess her make-up up.

"No… Well, you don't have any alcohol on you, do you?"

"Peyton!"

"No, really. I mean it." The blonde said. Haley eyed her, confused.

"What's going on, Peyton? I thought we figured all this out the other day."

"I did, too. But then I started thinking on my way home and I'm really not ready for this. This is all wrong, you know? I can't… I can't marry him." Peyton grabbed the fabric of the dress up in her fists so that she could easily pace back and forth across the room.

"Peyton…"

" I don't know what to do. God… I'm supposed to get married today! _Married_! And I'm here! I'm in the fucking church- What the hell am I supposed to-"

"You can start by not cursing anymore. And hold still, you're making me nervous. Hey! Peyton!" Haley finally had to reach out and grab Peyton's shoulder, fixing the blonde in place. "Just breathe for right now, okay? Just breathe. You're okay." Peyton closed her eyes, letting her head roll back.

"No, I'm not." She groaned. "Can I… Could you go get me some water? I don't feel good all of a sudden."

"Yeah, sure." Haley said, releasing Peyton from her death grip. "I'll be right back. Stay here, okay?"

* * *

"Hey Uncle Lucas!" Jamie exclaimed, bursting into the room. Nathan followed his son, giving Lucas an apologetic look.

"Hey, buddy." Lucas said, opening his arms to his nephew.

"Hey Uncle Skills." Jamie said then, turning away from Lucas after he had let go.

"What's up, little man?" Skills said. Jamie pouted a little.

"I'm not little." He said, crossing his arms. "I wish everyone would stop calling me little." At this, Lucas, Nathan and Skills smiled, knowing they were all guilty.

"Yeah, you right." Skills agreed. "You ain't little. Guess I should start callin' you 'big guy', huh?"

"Yeah. That's better." Jamie agreed.

"Okay. We'll do that, then."

"So how's it coming?" Nathan interjected. Lucas glanced at himself in the mirror to his right before answering his brother.

"To be honest? I'm a little nervous." He said.

"Why?" Nathan asked. Lucas shrugged.

"I dunno… pre-marital jitters?"

"Well, if it helps, Peyton's got those too." Nathan said. "Haley was talking to me about how she'd been talking to her before I came home the other day. She was freaking out a little bit. But when I finally got home she seemed fine, so…"

"Maybe that's why she's been acting so funny recently." Lucas said.

"She just nervous, too." Skills assured him. "But she a'ight." Lucas stood up then and began walking a circle around the room.

"Hey, Daddy? What time is it?" Jamie asked quietly. Nathan checked his watch.

"It's about 11:45." He said.

"Really?" Jamie asked, his face lighting up. "Yesssss." Lucas and Skills checked at the young boy's excitement. "Aren't you excited, Uncle Lucas?" Lucas turned around to face Jamie, sitting back down in the chair in front of the boy.

"I am." He said truthfully. "You have no idea, buddy. You look excited, too."

"Yeah. I'm excited." Jamie said with a smile.

"Naw, he excited for the after party." Skills corrected with a devilish grin. Everyone got it but Jamie, who smiled anyway knowing a joke had been cracked about _something._

"Hey, Nate. Can you get me some water. I'm feeling kinda funny."

"Sure, man. I'll be right back."

* * *

"How's she doin'?"

"Nathan!" Haley exclaimed, spilling the cup of water in her hand. She spun around. "You scared the hell out of me!" She scolded. She sighed heavily, pressing the button on the water dispenser again to fill the cup back up. "She's not doing so well." The brunette said finally. "You don't have any alcohol on you, do you?"

"What? No, why?" Nathan was completely caught off guard.

"Wanna guess?" Haley asked. Nathan thought on it for a minute, and then it dawned on him

"She's that bad?" He asked, nervous for Peyton. Haley nodded, letting the water off. She stepped out of Nathan's way, having seen the cup in his hands, too.

"I'll be glad if she's still there by the time I get back."

"Is she just nervous?"

"I don't think it's nerves anymore, Nathan." Haley said, the worry clear in her voice. "But I'll try and coax her out of it if I can. I mean, she'll come around of I talk to her, right?"

"Maybe."

"Just… don't say anything to Luke yet, okay? Please? I don't want him to worry if there's no reason for it." Nathan nodded, having faith in Haley.

"Okay." He said. They kissed and then parted.


	13. Chapter 13

Peyton stood at the window, eyeing the drop to the ground outside the church. If she weren't so high up, she'd brave the fall, but suicide was not the goal: She just needed an escape. Still, the blonde stayed by the window, beginning to wonder where Haley had gotten lost with her water. A knock sounded on her door.

"It's open." Peyton said, satisfied her thoughts were so well timed. Hard clicks on the floor followed the door closing. The gate was eerily familiar to Peyton, and the blonde turned to acknowledge the intruder before she had the chance to will herself not to. Then, her heart stopped."Brooke." She whispered, frozen where she stood. She couldn't even get her gaze to drop to the floor.

"I wasn't going to come." Brooke said quietly. There was a pain in her voice. "I know I said I wouldn't… But I also said I never wanted to see you in that dress, and yet here I am and here you are. God you look beautiful." Peyton wasn't sure how to feel. "I didn't mean to push you so far away. I was just so lost. I didn't understand what I was feeling, I couldn't understand why my world was turning upside down… I was scared. I'm scared now."

"Scared of what?" Peyton asked, no tremor in her voice at all. She even took a bold step forward, but was apparently only allowed just that one because she froze again. Brooke looked down, trying to collect herself. She inhaled deeply.

"I'm scared of you marrying Lucas." She said. Peyton's mouth fell slightly open, surprise washing over her.

"Lucas…" She started. "Do you love him?" Brooke was the one to show surprise this time.

"No!" She said. "Peyton, I wouldn't-"

"At least one of us does." Peyton interrupted. Brooke paused.

"What?" She asked. "What do you mean, 'one of us'?"

"I can't marry him." Peyton said honestly. "I'm not going to marry him." The words felt bitter and heavy coming out of Peyton's mouth, but every time she said them it seemed a little easier.

"But what about the-"

"There isn't going to be one." Peyton explained. "I just can't do it." The blonde went quiet, trying desperately to collect her thoughts into anything even remotely coherent that was explainable to Brooke. "There's always been something between us, you know? There's always been a person, or a feeling, or a time period… I've always felt something wrong, even in high school. And it's been so hard for me to understand it now because I used to be so sure that I loved him…. But for these past few months my theory hasn't been so solid." Peyton's eyes were misty. "And I really wish I could've figured this out before now." Brooke didn't know how to process what she was seeing, but she didn't hesitate for long. Within seconds, she came forward, pulling the blonde into her.

"Don't cry." She said gently, her voice lulling into it's natural husky tone. Peyton closed her eyes.

"What am I gonna do?" She asked. "I'm supposed to be getting married today, Brooke. The ceremony's starting in ten minutes, Lucas and all my friends are waiting… There's no time- I- I can't be making rash decisions like th-" Peyton heard her own voice stop and felt her body grow tense, muffled and shocked respectively by Brooke's sudden and fluid step forward and touch to her lips. For a fraction of a second, Peyton felt the tension disappear, melting away into the kiss. But the moment she was aware of this change her defenses went up and the blonde pulled away, drawing in a sharp breath.

Peyton watched Brooke, her eyes holding fear and confusion as if she'd just woken up from a nightmare. She was speechless.

"I'm sorry." Brooke said lightly. Her voice was barely over a whisper. Peyton brought her fingers to her lips, her gaze gone from Brooke, still able to feel the soft sensation on them. She remained silent, allowing an agonizingly slow moment to pass between Brooke and herself, deadening the feel of the room.

"I have to go." She said.

"Don't." Brooke pleaded. "Please don't disappear because of me, Peyton." The brunette hated every word she was about to say, but she continued regardless. "You love Lucas… So you should stay and go through with the wedding."

"No." Peyton said, already leaving. Brooke ran after her out into the hall.

"Wait, Peyton! I don't understand. Why aren't you-"

"I told you, Brooke. I don't…I'm not going to marry him." The blonde stopped for just a moment, gazing down the hall towards where the ceremony was to commence. "I guess you should've made me that run-away train after all." And with this, Peyton began descending the long staircase just beside her. Brooke followed as quickly as she could, doing her best to keep up. And it was a difficult task: Running down stairs in four-inch heels after a bride determined to ditch her own wedding was no small thing. And she finally gave up at the main door of the church, standing just outside the entrance.

"Peyton, stop!" Brooke demanded, her emotions raw and audibly frustrated. "Look, I know I haven't been the best friend to you for these past few weeks, and what I just did in there was really, really stupid, but do not punish Lucas because of what I did. He deserves better than that." Peyton turned towards Brooke, back-tracking up the entrance stairs and stopping one step below Brooke. She looked her in the eye, trying to read her.

"I'm not punishing him." She said quite honestly. "I can't help that I don't love him." Then Peyton froze, not have uttered the words out loud before. They felt strange and heavy on her tongue. She was unsure what else to say after that.

"What?" Brooke said, shocked. She instantly replayed Peyton's words three times over in her head, her mind unable to compute them. Her face screamed her confusion through a bullhorn. "I don't understand." She said then, shaking her head. Peyton breathed.

"I…"She started, her mind racing for answers and tripping miserably over itself. "I don't love him… Not enough to marry him. When I think about all we've been through, of course I smile. And of course when I think about my future… I see him in it. And I pray to God that my visions aren't false. But if someone asked me who I wanted beside me when all my dreams came true, when- When everything in my life played out just the way I wanted it to and needed it to…. It's you. It's you, Brooke. It always has been and it always will be. Not Lucas, or anybody else. I guess I just never wanted to admit that to myself because I didn't think you felt the same." From the higher step, Brooke looked down at Peyton, a diverse mix of emotions thrashing around in her heart and in her head. She couldn't fight the smile pulling at the corners of her mouth, but her eyes were welling up with tears at the same time. And it was in this same moment that she watched Peyton turn to try and escape again. Brooke reached out, grabbing the blonde's wrist, and pulled her back. Almost instantly, their lips met in a slow, gentle kiss. And this time, Peyton didn't pull away. Instead, she stayed, holding Brooke against her. Brooke rested her hand on the back of Peyton's neck under the delicate bun the blonde had twisted her hair into, deepening the kiss for only a moment before pulling slightly away. She rested their foreheads together then.

"You love me." She whispered. It was almost a question. Peyton nodded, smiling.

"I do." She said.

"Peyton?"

"Hrm?"

"Peyton?"

"What?" The blonde stirred, her surroundings blurring and instantly clearing up again. She looked around. To her left stood the priest and the altar, and to her left sat the pews and all the people within them. Before her stood Lucas, her hands in his own. Peyton's mind reeled. When did she get here? She looked back out into the church, scanning the faces. There was a specific mood generated from each of them, but Peyton sensed something different near the back. Her eyes darted there immediately, seeking it out behind a green gaze, and then she found the spot. There, the only person closest to the door, sat someone who had promised not to come. Someone who had gone out of their way to avoid this day for months. Brooke was staring back at her, and her gaze was smoldering.

Peyton returned her attention to the altar.

"Lucas…" She started, struggling to look into his eyes. Briefly, she glanced back out into the church, then returned her eyes somewhere near the floor. She pulled her hands out of Lucas' gently. "I can't marry you." She said, her voice unable to project itself over a whisper. "I'm sorry." And with that, Peyton turned to run, sprinting as fast as she could with the restrictions her massive dress provided down the aisle. As she reached the doors, she glanced involuntarily to her left, catching an expression nothing short of surprise on Brooke's face. But she did not stop to react, and instead continued running. It was better for her to be gone, she decided silently, before she did something she knew she'd later regret.


	14. Chapter 14

"_Peyton! Peyton wait!" Lucas had yelled, but it had done no good. Those in the pews held shock on their faces, either watching in horror as Peyton disappeared beyond the doors, or watching in agony as Lucas fell apart. Either way, Peyton had never turned back, and Lucas was left alone once again._

Now the young man sat on the steps at the foot of the altar, his sense of déjà vu heightening menacingly. Everyone else was in a lower state of shock.

"Lucas…" Haley started, approaching her friend slowly. Nathan and Jamie were close behind.

"Did… Did I miss something?" Lucas asked, unsure what else to say. Even asking that question was difficult, because hearing his own voice made the situation even more real. Haley grimaced slightly, understanding how Lucas' heart was mangled in the moment. She'd seen it too many times before. She came closer, and immediately regretted the sudden movement.

"I gotta go." Lucas said, standing up as quickly as Haley had moved. He didn't want to be the center of everyone's pity or even see their shocked or saddened faces. And in wanting to be alone to try to escape it all and he disappeared, almost as quickly as Peyton had, into the back chambers of the church.

Haley closed her eyes and sighed, turning to Nathan.

"I don't know what to do." She said honestly. Nathan was momentarily quiet.

"I'll talk to him in a few minutes." He said. "But I want to give him his space first. He seemed pretty receptive when I did that when Lindsey ran off." At this, Haley nodded, knowing Nathan's words were true.

"Why did Peyton run away?" Jamie asked in curiosity only a child his age could retain. Stroking his son's hair, Nathan answered the question as best he could.

"I think she's scared, bud." He said.

"Is Uncle Lucas gonna be okay?" Nathan glanced at Haley, hinting for her to answer this one. He figured his answer might be too harsh. Stepping closer, Haley kneeled down before her son to get on his level.

"He'll be okay." She said, half-sure she was telling the truth. She knew Lucas was strong and had pulled through this before… But she also knew that Peyton was the one. She wondered how devastating this would actually turn out to be. "This is just going to be really hard for him."

"But what happens now?" Jamie questioned, his curiosity and confusion still bubbling over.

"Well, ummm… Daddy's gonna go talk to Uncle Lucas in a minute and I'm going to go see if I can find Brooke-"

"But where do _I _go?"

"You get to hang out with me for a little while, 'kay buddy?" Jamie nodded in agreement and approached Nathan, standing by him. Then Haley leaned forward and kissed her son on the forehead before going off to hunt Brooke down.

* * *

Brooke stepped into an empty hallway, positive she had seen Peyton disappear into it only moments ago. But the area was completely vacated, absolutely silent and dimply lit. Still, Brooke pushed further down, determined to find the run away bride and hoping she didn't just ditch her things and drive off out of state for an ungodly amount of time. And it was in that thought that Brooke noticed light from underneath a closed door, instinct telling her that that was Peyton's hiding place. (?) Where Brooke had gotten the idea that Peyton was trying to 'hide' from anyone was unclear.

Swiftly, Brooke stole down the hallway, entering the suspected room with incredible stealth for high heels and closing the door, rather loudly, behind her.

"Oh!" Peyton screamed, clutching her chest and turning towards whoever had just entered the room. Her eyes were wet and red, her water-proof mascara showing the proof of the blonde's tears by beginning to run down the blonde's face. "Brooke, you scared me-"

"And you scared _me_." Brooke said, stepping further into the room. "Peyton, why are you running from the boy that you love?" Though the words stung her, Brooke meant them. She couldn't understand why Peyton was running. "You've been looking forward to this day for as long as I can remember." Peyton wiped her face gingerly, trying not to mess it up more. She inhaled deeply.

"Because I… I don't love him." She said unsteadily. More tears came, seemingly from nowhere, and Peyton had to hold her hand up to her face to try and hide her emotions. Her efforts, however, were in vain, and Brooke saw straight through them. The brunette drew nearer, not quite in Peyton's personal space, but close enough for the blonde to feel the love and warmth radiating from her. Brooke was struggling to find words, confused by what Peyton had just said. When she finally opened her mouth she spoke slow, choosing her words carefully.

"When did you decide this?" She asked. Peyton drew visibly into herself then, her arms now crossed protectively across her chest.

"A long time ago." She said. "But I didn't really get it until recently." Her voice was low and she seemed far off, like talking about it was a pain. Brooke, unsure how else to respond, question Peyton then purely on curious impulse.

"But if you don't love Lucas, then… Who do you love?" This froze Peyton, the blonde dropping her arms from her chest and ripping her guard apart. Her heart beat feverishly, her pulse loud enough for Brooke to hear, and the brunette was reading her, figuring out slowly what was going on in the Peyton's head and in her heart. She was getting the answer to her question without either of them saying anything. All of it, everything Brooke needed to know, was set in the big, deep green eyes that stared nervously back at her. All it took was that one glance, and Brooke understood everything. She swallowed hard.

"If I told you something…" Brooke cut herself off, unsure, and then began again. "I'm wondering if what I'm about to tell you is going to help any of this, And if not just with you, then with us. 'Cause I don't want to play this game anymore, P. Sawyer. I'm tired of it… And I can only push you away for so long." Peyton was more alert now, the gears shifting quickly. She stepped closer, curious, her tears shutting off.

"What's wrong?" She asked gently. Her own embarrassment seemed to melt away. She knew the brunette was struggling, even if the battle was only slight… She could see it in her face.

"You know I love you, right?" Brooke asked, her voice tapping into it's natural, rich tone. Peyton nodded, worried now. The statement of 'I love you' always meant trouble.

"Of course I do, Brooke." She said, her concern apparent in her voice.

"Well that's just the thing, Peyt. I love you. I'm _in_ love with you. And that's why I've been pushing you away for all this time and why I didn't want your money for this damned dress and why I wasn't going to-" Brooke's rant was muffled into a short moan, her breath gone from her lungs. Peyton had closed the gap between them, holding Brooke close to her and kissing her lovingly. She had never felt so joyful in her life, her body acting purely and entirely on impulses and excitement. She felt Brooke grin, her smile warm behind the kiss, and run her hands up the blonde's torso to finally rest on the back of Peyton's neck. The blonde pulled slightly away, hearing a wordless protest from the shorter girl against her, and smiled affectionately, resting her forehead against Brooke's.

"I love you, Brooke Davis." Peyton whispered.

"And I love-"

"Brooke Dav-" A voice called, it's owner slipping into the room before Brooke and Peyton could pull apart. The person in the door stood motionless, shocked at what they saw before them. "… Oh my god…"


	15. Chapter 15

"Oh my god." Haley said, her purse falling down her arm to the floor. She didn't even seem to notice that it had fallen.

"Haley-"

"Peyton, I hope you have a good explanation for this… whatever this is." Haley didn't acknowledge Brooke's presence other than with a quick glance. Her face was unreadable. "What the hell is this?" She demanded, her voice unable to overcome her shock to effectively support an angry tone. Peyton was stunned, and threw her defenses up Immediately.

"Out of everyone, Haley, really? I expected at least a more noble reaction from you-"

"_Noble!_?" Haley almost laughed. "Do you hear yourself? You just walked out on Lucas at his _wedding_ and go to fool around with Brooke? Don't talk to me about noble."

"Okay. You are the _last_ person I should be getting judgment from!" Peyton drew away from Brooke, stepping forward and towering over Haley, even in heels. "In a situation like this, I'd like to be able to come to you for help to make even a little sense out of this. And up until this point, I thought I could." Peyton glanced back at Brooke, angry and uneasy. "I have to go." She said, and she pushed past the short woman in front of her, leaving her and Brooke in a long, awkward silence.

* * *

Haley leaned against Nathan on the couch in their living room, her cheek smushed against his shoulder.

"It's getting late." She said. "I can't feel good about going to sleep without talking to Lucas."

"With the way he disappeared after you told him Peyton was gone, I doubt he wants to talk to any of us right now. Hell, I doubt he's even home." Haley sighed.

"I just want to help him, Nathan, you know? I just… He's gotta be hurting right now." Nathan shifted, his arm curling around Haley lovingly. He kissed her hair.

"You've got to be the most caring, loving person in the whole world, Hales." He said. "And I'm sure Lucas knows you're worried about him. But, and trust me on this one, there isn't really much you can do for him right now." Nathan remembered how he had felt when Haley had gone on tour with Chris Keller all those years ago and how angry and hurt he was. He figured Lucas was in a similar boat. "Just let him deal with it on his own for a little while. Let him try and wrestle the worst part of it out." Haley, sighed, obviously not satisfied with her husband's advice. Still, she knew he was right.

"Alright." She said softly, snuggling further into Nathan. Then, she quickly pulled away, spurred on by new determination. "But I am so hunting him down in a few days whether you like it or not."

* * *

Peyton woke up to a hammer cracking into her skull, only to realize that the hammer was actually sunlight peeking in through the bedroom curtains. Impulsively, she rolled over, bumping into something very solid and flinched back, startled she had hit anything at all. The blonde opened her eyes, one at a time, to see what was in her way, and yelped at what she saw.

"Mornin' Goldilocks." A cheerful and strangely southern Brooke said warmly, her smile perfect. Peyton looked around, half-way recognizing her surroundings.

"Where am I?" She asked groggily, her headache still raging. Brooke's smile never faded, the brunette reaching out to brush blonde hair gently from Peyton's face.

"Our old house." She said, her southern accent gone now. "You're in my bed. I finally found you at about one in the morning at Tric, drunk off your ass I might add, and took the liberty of taking you home with me." Brooke moved her fingers further into Peyton's sleep-mused curls, playing gently with them. "Better me than some worthless, horny guy, right?" Peyton attempted a nod, concentrating on Brooke's fingers raking through her hair rather than her mammoth headache. The brunette's touch was an infinitely more pleasant sensation.

"I'm sorry I ran off like that the yesterday." She mumbled, not opening her eyes. Even the non-direct sunlight behind her was too bright for them. "I was flustered and Haley was attacking me and then everything kind of… Kind of…"

"Don't worry about it, P. Sawyer." Brooke said. She stopped stroking Peyton's hair, reaching back to her nightstand to retrieve a glass of water. "Drink this and then go back to sleep." She brought the cup close to Peyton's face and the blonde opened her eyes, just enough to locate it and grab it. Downing the liquid in seconds, Peyton collapsed back onto the mattress, her eyes sliding shut again. She sighed.

"You're always saving me." She said.

"Somebody has to. Your ass is always in trouble." At this, Peyton chuckled.

"You always know how to get me in bed with you, too." She said lazily, already drifting back into sleep. Brooke smirked, leaning down and leaving a chaste kiss on Peyton's forehead.

"Well, you have yet to resist me offers."

* * *

Haley knocked gently on Lucas' door, not sure if she'd get an answer. Nathan had said a few days ago that his brother probably wouldn't be home. While the man's car was outside, it didn't guarantee she'd get to speak with him. The brunette waited patiently… Minutes went by. Haley knocked again, but still got silence in response. And it was in that moment of silence that an idea dawned on her: Lucas was probably at the river court. Pulling her keys from her purse, Haley went back out to her car to go talk to her friend.

Lucas heard gravel crunching under the massive weight of what sounded like an SUV, but he didn't look up to properly identify the visitor. He already knew who it was and, despite their closely-knit friendship, just6 wanted her to go away. He didn't want to talk to anyone, not even Haley. Because talking about it would make it permanent and real, and losing Peyton… He stopped his thoughts.

Haley found an open spot next to Lucas on the bench and took it, her back now joined in Lucas' in facing the river. The brunette remained quiet, just sitting next to her friend and waiting for him to say something on his own. She wanted to heed her husband's words or being patient today. Every once in a while she'd steal a glance towards Lucas, following his gaze. It seemed glued to the comet permanently spray-painted onto the blacktop.

"I don't get it." Lucas finally said, his voice flat. He sounded tired. Haley kept her eyes where Lucas' were trained, sighing deeply.

"I don't think she does either." She said, remembering vividly the moment she walked in on Peyton and Brooke.

"There wasn't even a reason, she just-" Though Lucas' eyes were dry, Haley could see his broken heart in them. And had the situation been any less twisted, she would've given him the Lucas Eugene Scott speech she had heard Nathan give a few times and told him to run after Peyton. But the blonde man's courageousness and amazing ability to do good in the world seemed irrelevant now when put up against what Haley saw in the bridal chamber that day. All the strength in the world couldn't bring Peyton back to Lucas, Haley had seen that first hand when she looked into the blonde woman's eyes.

"I'm sorry, Luke." She said after a long pause. She leaned over, resting her head on Lucas' shoulder and embraced him sideways. Lucas blinked, slowly sighing.

"Yeah." He said. "Me, too."

* * *

"I don't know what I'm going to do with you yet, Sawyer." Brooke said, coming out on the balcony to join Peyton and enjoy the sunset with her. The blonde was leaning over the edge, taking in the ever-interesting view of the town from above.

"What about?" She asked, turning her head towards Brooke as the brunette settled against the ledge beside her.

"Well, I practically kidnapped you from a wedding, for one-"

"No. You stole me from Tric before I drank myself to death." Peyton justified. Brooke's eyebrows went up in unison, liking Peyton's argument better than her own.

"True. You were pretty liquored up, sweetheart. I don't think I've seen you that drunk before." Peyton smiled at this. "But now I've got you hiding in my house-"

"I'm not hiding."

"Whatever, you get it." Brooke stood up straight, independent of the railing. She ran a stressed hand through her hair. "What kind of friend does that make me to Lucas, Peyt?" In truth, Peyton had not observed the situation from this angle, seeing as she had been intoxicated for a day and a half and then occupied otherwise afterwards. Now that she was level-headed, the circumstances seemed a lot more grim than she had realized. Guilt welled up in her chest and crept onto her face, an expression Brooke hadn't seen in a very long time and still recognized instantly. "How do you break something like this to him?" The brunette asked. Peyton thought back to when Haley had found them in the church, focusing on what she had said. News like this would break Lucas.

"You don't." She said finally, her tone serious. "Not yet, at least." Brooke thought on this for a moment, not sure if she liked the prospect of the plan or not. But the alternative, she decided, might have worse repercussions. She nodded.

"'Kay." She said, reaching out to rest her hand on Peyton's. She glanced at the blonde briefly before throwing her gaze out onto the town below. "Then we'll wait."


	16. Chapter 16

Nathan found Haley at her desk, her classroom having long been empty. He brought a stool up and sat on it.

"So how'd that talk go with Lucas?" He asked, knowing already that it hadn't been what she'd expected. The short woman sighed, running a tired hand through her hair.

"It was better than I thought it might be… but I wanted to get more out of it than what I did. I wanted to help pull something away from him but he refused to let go." Nathan nodded, staying quiet while Haley talked. "I could reach him, you know? But… You were right. It's too soon."

"I could kinda tell by the look you had when you got home. "Nathan shifted forward, leaning against the front end of Haley's desk. "You never told me what happened." He said, referring to the wedding. "Why did Peyton run off like that?" At this, Haley sighed, not really wanting to repeat all the drama again.

"It's really none of my business to tell…"She paused, guilty and frustrated. "When I went after Brooke to see if she knew where Peyton had gone, I saw that she went into the room Peyton had gotten ready earlier that morning. So I followed her and when I finally got there I- I think Peyton and Brooke are together." Almost instantly, Nathan burst out laughing. He knew Haley was joking.

"That is awesome." He said. A tear peeked out from above his eyelashes. It was then that he noticed Haley wasn't laughing with him, and he sobered up quickly. He looked at her, his face unreadable. "You… aren't kidding, are you." It wasn't even a question. He knew Haley was being completely serious. The brunette glanced down and Nathan slumped back over. "Wow." He said.

"That's what I said." Haley told her husband. "After I said just about every other thing I could think of." Nathan turned the situation over in his head, so confused about the whole thing.

"What are we gonna tell Lucas?" He asked. Haley looked up at her husband through her hair, her eyes almost menacing.

"We aren't going to tell Luke anything." She said.

"But Hales! We can't just leave him in the dark-"

"Oh yes we can. And we will." Haley huffed, dropping her head in her hands. "Luke isn't going to hear it from us." She said. "If he gets word of it from anyone, it will be from Peyton or Brooke, maybe even both of them at the same time if it has to be that way." The brunette was heated now, angered and half-amused by the absurdity of the whole thing. "I can't believe… It's not that they're together, you know what I mean? It's the circumstances, I… Does any of this make any sense to you?"

"It makes perfect sense to me." Nathan said. Haley's head snaked back and her eyebrows flew up, waiting for a damn-good explanation. "Think about all the times you've seen them together: Where have you seen any other two friends that closely knit? Nowhere. Plus, and I don't think I ever told you this, but when I was in my wheelchair they tried to make kissing each other an incentive for me to walk-" Haley's anger cracked, a small smile breaking through. "What?"

"… I may have been in on that one." She said sheepishly. But then she went back to being frustrated. "But I'm still mad! And that still doesn't justify them going behind Lucas' back-"

"To be honest, I don't think they did. I think this was a spur-of-the-moment kind of thing. Think about how antsy Peyton was at our house a few days before the wedding. Or think about how strange Brooke was acting for all that time after Peyton asked her for the dress. I don't think this was planned, at least not well." Haley didn't look quite convinced. "Look, you and I both know how good of friends Brooke and Peyton are to Lucas. Do you really think that they would do this to him on purpose?" Closing her eyes, Haley leaned back and sighed, letting Nathan's words soak in. He was right, she knew, and his correctness had exhausted and extinguished the fight in her. The young mother opened her eyes again, her light brown gaze flickering over to Nathan.

"No." She said. "I don't." Then she paused, thinking hard. "I just don't know how to feel about all of this, you know?… Do you think I should talk to Peyton?"

"…Why?"

"I may or may not have kinda chewed her out when I saw her with Brooke." Nathan was the one who sighed this time, smiling warmly at his wife.

"Yes. I think you should find her and apologize for being a beast, and then let her deal with Lucas on her own like you said. There's no use ruining your friendship with her just because the rest of this situation is screwed." Haley nodded, sitting up. "Ready to go home. Mrs. Scott?" Haley nodded , smiling.

"Yesssss." She said.

* * *

Peyton found Broke in her empty store, sitting at the front desk and staring at some paperwork. The brunette didn't even look up to acknowledge Peyton's presence.

"Does she even know I'm here?" Peyton whispered to Brooke, referring to the brunette in third person. Then Brooke looked up.

"Sorry." She said sincerely. "I thought you were a nagging customer." Brooke stood up, taking one look at Peyton's face and realizing the blonde was in some kind of trouble. She came around and grabbed her hand, leading her to the couch still in the store. They both sat down. "What's wrong?" Peyton bit her lip, glancing down at her hand that was still nested in Brooke's. It seemed always to be now.

"I…" She started, feeling something sift in her gut, It made her cringe, but she continued. "I need to tell Lucas what happened… I just don't feel right hiding it from him anymore." At this, Brooke nodded, resting her head and her arm on the back of the couch.

"Yeah, I know." She said, having felt the same thing just a few nights ago. "You know, Nathan knows… I guess Haley told him."

"Yeah, Haley wanted to talk to me today about it I guess, so-"

"I'll come with you." Brooke interrupted.

"When I talk to Haley?" Peyton asked, one eyebrow up. "Brooke, I appreciate the moral support and everything but I don't think little Haley's gonna jump me-"

"No! When you talk to Lucas. I'm just as much a part of this as you are." Peyton thought on it for a moment.

"I don't know." She said, looking down briefly. "I don't think he'll appreciate me telling him 'Hey, I left you because you turned me gay and so I'm gonna be with Brooke now because she's hotter than you. Tootles!' Yeah. I don't think Lucas is that kind of guy." Brooke cracked a smile, so in love with Peyton's humor.

"Good point." She said, suddenly distracted by Peyton's face. "Are you okay, P. Sawyer?" The blonde looked up quickly, her mind racing to make up a lie. Her face betrayed every word.

"Yeah. I'm fine." She said, standing up.

"No… No you're not you're green. Are you sure you don't want me to-"

"Baby, really, I'm fine. I'm gonna head over to Haley and Nathan's." Peyton kissed Brooke's cheek in a hurry, not sure she should be too close to the brunette's mouth in that moment. She headed quickly to the door after biding Broke a "goodbye" and an "I love you", and was in the car and pulling away before Brooke could protest. In truth, she wasn't going to Haley's, but home instead. She prayed she'd get there in time before she was sick.


	17. Chapter 17

Once her head had stopped spinning and she had brushed her teeth for the third time, Peyton stepped back outside, got in her Comet and headed for Nathan and Haley's… She could already tell this was going to be a long visit.

Haley didn't say anything after the luke-warm 'hello' she had offered at the door as she led Peyton into the house. The two women settled on opposite ends of the couch, just as they had a few days before Peyton's wedding. The blonde's stomach turned again, but this time it was from nerves, not spontaneous nausea.

"I know when I walked in on you and Brooke I said some things…" Haley started. The brunette mother leaned forward, resting her forearms in her lap and putting her hands together. "I didn't mean them. You are one of my best friends, Peyton, and if you and Brooke love each other and want to be together, that's fine. I want you to be happy, you know that. I guess I reacted the way I did because I was just with Lucas and to see him like that and then to find you with someone else, I- It didn't feel right to me. But I'm sorry I took that out on you. I know you didn't deserve that." Peyton leaned back, absorbing Haley's words. She sighed and nodded.

"It's okay, Haley." The blonde promised. "I know you were just defending Lucas… I'm sure you were pretty shocked."

"Just a little." Haley said sarcastically. Peyton smiled.

"And I'm sorry, too. I shouldn't have snapped at you."

"Don't mention it."

"I've had a lot of time to think about it, too, what you said, and I think I'm gonna tell Lucas-"

"Don't." Haley said. "It'll just hurt him more, I think. Especially so soon after the whole thing. I know you haven't seen him recently so you can't really understand…. He's a mess, Peyton." Peyton was silent for a long time, not sure what to say. While she felt guilty for betraying her life love, and she could not deny that's what Lucas was, she knew where her heart truly felt at home. And that was with Brooke.

"I know you want me not to mention Brooke with Lucas… But I have to tell him sometime, Hales. I can't hide this from him forever. It's not fair to him." And as much as she hated it, Haley knew Peyton was right. She sighed.

"Well, at least give him some time to heal a little bit first, okay? Would you do that for me?" Peyton nodded.

"So… you're not mad at me?" Haley leaned back then, stretching out her legs along the length of the couch, eyeing the tall blonde before her with a motherly authority.

"Mad? No. Not really. But when I say I didn't see this coming you can bet I'm telling you the truth." Then Haley paused, examining Peyton now. The blonde squirmed, sick of everyone eyeing her like that. "I do have one question for you though, and maybe this is out of line but…" The brunette smiled sheepishly. "Are you really gay? Or what is it?" The question came out a lot more blunt than she wanted it to, and she felt heat rise to her cheeks in a rush. Still, Peyton seemed to take the question in stride.

"Ummm…. Yeah. I guess I am. I mean, I've never really thought about it, you know? I've just kind of lived life, I guess. But if you really wanna get technical then yes. I'm gay." Haley nodded.

"M'kay." She said gently. Tne she cracked a smile, chuckling a little. "That's gonna take some getting used to." She said honestly. Peyton smiled, looking briefly out the window across the room, admiring the beautiful day. She sighed, relaxing more on the couch, crossing her legs under herself. She was glad the hard part of Haley's confrontation was over. She looked back at the brunette.

"Take your time, Haley."

* * *

Enough time had gone by that the wedding was relatively distant in everyone's minds, but the exact amount was lost. Skills, Haley and Nathan saw the rough edges of the aftermath, dragging Lucas out of the house whenever there was a good excuse to (Or sometimes without any excuse at all) the most, and immediate friends got good earfulls of the details from them.

It was around this time too that Peyton was finally driven into consulting her doctor about her nausea spells, only to have what she had suspected earlier confirmed. It was news she never had thought she'd receive with dread.

The night of her doctor's appointment Peyton came home, wanting only to find Brooke and curl up in bed with her an cry, or scream, anything to get the awful feeling out of her chest.

"Brooke?" She called upon stepping through the front door. Brooke answered immediately.

"In the bedroom!" She called, hearing Peyton walking down the hall. Almost instantly upon seeing the blonde in the doorway, she knew something was very, very wrong. "Sweetheart, what's wrong? Are you okay?" Brooke knew it was a stupid question, the answer being no. "Come here, Peyt." She said gently, patting the space on the bed next to her. Peyton climbed easily in, curling perfectly into Brooke.

"I went to the doctor today." Peyton said. Brooke felt her heart pause and stutter. _Cancer_. She though, her lungs emptying. She pulled Peyton under her chin, squeezing her tight. "He figured out why I've been throwing up and why I've been having stomach pain." By now, Brooke's heart was breaking, scared to death for the woman beside her. "I'm pregnant, Brooke." Peyton finally said. Brooke's heart crumbled then, putting itself back together the wrong way. She couldn't breathe. Peyton was _pregnant_? As is having a _baby_? The brunette gritted her teeth. If it were any other baby it would be fine. If it were an adopted baby….

"Is it Lucas'?" She already knew the answer to this question too, but this was impulsive. There was no way she couldn't have asked it. Peyton nodded, one of her tears falling onto Brooke's chest. The brunette was speechless after that, unsure how to comfort Peyton for the first time in their entire friendship. She was too stunned to do anything. Breathing was something that suddenly had to be concentrated on. She pulled Peyton closer against her chest, willing her fear to go away. It was an attempt in vain, of course, but still an honest attempt.

Finally, Peyton spoke after about ten minutes, her tears dry on her skin.

"What am I gonna do?" She asked Brooke, her voice low and stuffy. Brooke sighed, collecting herself for Peyton.

"Nothing." She said, lifting Peyton's chin with her forefinger to look the blonde in the face. "Because we're in this together, and I'm here for you, P. Sawyer. I love you no matter what happens. Whatever you need, whatever you want, I'll work with you to get it. If you want me to help you raise this baby, I will. If you want me to talk to Lucas, I'll do that too. Whatever you want. But you have to let me in, honey. You have to stop being to independent and trying to do everything on your own. You're not on your own, okay? I won't ever let that happen." Peyton's eyes shifted, but she couldn't get herself to turn her head away. She closed her eyes instead, nodding. Brooke's words penetrated deep in her heart. Drawing Peyton's face closer, Brooke kissed her to emphasize her point before pulling her against her again. "You're gonna be okay." She whispered, the natural husky tone in her voice warming up. It made Peyton smile quietly. "We're gonna be okay. Peyton closed her eyes, relaxing in the warmth around her.

"I'm so lucky I have you." She said. Brooke smiled, kissing Peyton's hair.

"So am I."


	18. Chapter 18

Brooke woke up in the middle of that same night, her mind already reeling back to Peyton and the baby. She didn't move, absorbing her environment as much as possible to distract herself from the strange lump in her throat. Peyton was _pregnant_… With _Lucas'_ child. The brunette shuttered at the horribly timed image that flickered across the backs of her eyes. This whole situation was fucked, she decided then. Was she angry? No. More like scared… More like hurt. Was she heartbroken? A little. She knew Peyton had loved Lucas once but… The baby set everything in stone. It was like random permafrost in the middle of Arizona. No one saw it coming, and no one wanted it to stay.

Brooke let her old fantasies and dreams pour over her then. In high school, yes, _so_ long ago, she had wanted to be with Peyton. The prospect was only in her head, and she shared it with no one, but it was still there. And, if one twisted it in just the right way, she kind of was with Peyton. They were together almost every second of the day, sleeping in each other's beds, eating and drinking after each other… The list went on and on. But it had never been official. Brooke had wanted that official…ness. But then college came along, and the two were separated, but Brooke wanted to be with Peyton just as much, maybe even more. She'd email the blonde from time to time and they'd talk and tell each other how much they missed the other, but it had never been enough… Then, in the blink of an eye, college was over, and Brooke's contact with Peyton dwindled until it almost disappeared. And it was by luck that the brunette was home alone on the night Peyton had decided to call her on her cell phone. The girl on the other end was definitely Peyton, but this was a broken version. A scared and lonely version of the radiant blonde Brooke had known years ago. This Peyton was crying hysterically, lost in the world and missing Brooke with a frightening intensity. _"I miss you… I guess I miss all of it."_ She had said. And the next day, somehow, they were living together. It was like the world had come together again. Everything was right and whole and good… It all made sense. It was what Brooke had wanted the whole time. And it was also on the day that she had planned to tell Peyton everything that the blonde had disappeared to go marry Lucas in Vegas, and not too long after that Brooke was attacked. Her world had crumbled apart just as easily as it had fallen back together. Brooke couldn't see Peyton being by her side anymore. They wouldn't live together again, wouldn't sleep in the same bed, wouldn't just sit and talk the way they used to because Lucas would be attached to her hip now. They'd never be a 'they' after that. It was over, or so Brooke thought.

The brunette turned, roused slightly from her thoughts, to look over at Peyton. The blonde was sleeping deeply, completely relaxed and silent there directly in the moonlight from Brooke's bedroom window. She had twisted considerably in her sleep, her arms above her head, exposing her stomach under her nightshirt. Brooke stared for a moment, unsure how to classify the pang in her chest the sight evoked. She reached out, gently brushing her fingers over the hot skin low on Peyton's abdomen before pulling back, letting a sigh escape her lungs. A tear escaped through her lower lashes.

"Peyton…" She started, not attempting to wake the young woman sleeping beside her. But, in her sleep, Peyton responded anyway, turning and settling right up against Brooke, her slender hand resting over the brunette's heart. Brooke went slightly rigid, trying to hold still. She let more tears fall. "You're pregnant." She whispered.


	19. Chapter 19

Brooke was on the highway a few hours later, the sun still on the other side of the world. The roads were desolate, only the steady hum of Brooke's tired against the concrete keeping the brunette company. She shivered, but not from the cold. She couldn't shake the image of Peyton with a baby from her mind. The image of Peyton with Lucas' baby, of Peyton with Lucas…

The brunette shuddered, violently, jerking the steering wheel. The car swerved, spinning nearly 360 degrees before Brooke got control over it again, turning the wheel into the spin. By the time it was over she was facing the opposite way, where oncoming traffic, were there any at this hour, would smash right into her head on. The brunette killed the engine, slumping back into the seat. Her heart hammered in her chest, looking up into the starry sky unseeingly. She didn't want this to be so _hard_. But it was. It hadn't been so bad, back in high school when Lucas and Peyton had dated. At least then Brooke always had the upper-hand and prominent title of Best Friend Forever. But this… this was just unfair. Brooke couldn't just go around impregnating people, much less Peyton, to call them hers. Now Lucas had the upper-hand, she guessed. And it was so Lucas, too, to win in the end. The brunette rolled her eyes, letting out a deep sigh. Once again, Broody had gotten his way.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

It's a short one, I know, and I'm sorry. But I'll update again soon to make up for it! I promise!

~ SawyerAfterMe27


	20. Chapter 20

"Uncle Lucas!" Jamie cried, running to Lucas as he came through the door. The young man smiled, ruffling his nephew's hair.

"Hey, bud." He said warmly. Then he heard footsteps.

"Hey, Luke."

"Hey Hales, Nathan." Lucas walked further into the house, leaning against the opening of the dining room entrance. "You guys wanted to talk to me?" Lucas's front was obvious, but it's stability was admirable.

"Yeah." Haley said gently, gesturing into the living room with her hand. "Come in." She said, and the three of them proceeded, relaxing into the couches. (Jamie had gone back up to his room to play with a friend of his from school.)

"We were thinking that maybe you should try and talk to Peyton." Nathan said flatly. He half-glanced at Haley, keeping basic eye-contact with his brother. Lucas sighed, knowing all the way back to the phone call that this would have something to do with the run-away bride. Haley sat up straighter.

"The day of the wedding, when I said she was gone… I saw her run off, Luke." She said gently. "And the look in her eyes made me think there was something she wasn't telling us." It was true, after all. Peyton was hiding _something_ and she _did_ run off at the wedding… Haley was just leaving out the specifics for Peyton to fill in. "I think- We think maybe you could get something out of her, you know? Maybe some closure if nothing else." Lucas dropped his head, staring at the carpet between his feet. He wasn't sure what to say.

"Guys, thanks but I don't really know…"

"I really, really think you should go talk to her, Lucas." Nathan said, and his brotherly, though younger, authority strong and clear. Lucas could hardly ignore it. He sighed.

"Maybe." He said idly. While the thought of seeing Peyton again made his heart race, it also made it tremble and break a little again. Still, the possibility of getting her back was too irresistible.

"Just think about it, would you?" Haley asked gently. Lucas nodded really slowly.

"Okay." He said.

* * *

Peyton rolled over in bed, nearly falling off the edge before she realized where she was. This was Brooke's bedroom, not hers, and the brunette was gone. Peyton shot up, startled again when a knock sounded on the front door. She rubbed her eyes, swinging her feet over the edge of the bed and zombied her way out of the room.

Upon opening the door, Peyton froze.

"…….." For a brief moment, she was speechless. Then she collected herself. "..Lucas?" How did he know she was here?

"Hey." He said, rubbing the back of his neck and stuffing his hand quickly back in his pocket like the other one. "Can I talk to you?" He asked. Peyton only stared at him, able to see almost everything he'd felt over the past few weeks since the wedding. It astounded her how devastated he'd been.

"Um, yeah." She said, finally breaking out of her stupor. She didn't move out of the doorway. Lucas didn't seem to mind.

"I want an answer, Peyton." Lucas started. Peyton knew what he meant immediately, but her brain was still malfunctioning over the fact that she was even having this conversation with him… In her night shirt… At Brooke's house. "I want to know why you left me on our wedding day." Peyton's lips parted, her inner struggle obvious.

"I.." She started. She thought about what Haley had said about waiting to tell Lucas. But how could she stall this if he came to her doorstep? It was a sign, she knew. Or really sick timing. "I loved someone else." She said softly. Lucas' face went unchanging, not understanding. "You were the love of my life, Lucas… And I think you always will be but-"

"Then why are we here?" Lucas asked. Peyton paused, uncomfortable.

"The closer it got to the wedding the more I realized that I was not in love with you the way I thought I was. I didn't understand it at first, and then…" The blonde stood straight up, looking Lucas in the eye. "I'm in love with Brooke." She said. Lucas just stared at her, numb for a second. Then he came to.

"What?"

"Yeah." Peyton said. "I'm sorry, but-"

"That's just great, Peyton. I'm so glad you figured this out when we were standing at the altar!" Lucas shook his head, an angry smile on his face. "Your timing _sucks_, Peyton, you know that?" Then he closed his eyes, trying desperately to compose himself. And when he spoke again, Peyton could only tell he was hurting by looking into them. "When you asked me, about five or six years ago who I wanted next to me when all my dreams came true, I said you. And that didn't change. It hasn't changed. It's _you_, Peyton. It always has been, and it always will be… Doesn't that mean anything to you? _Anything_ at all?" The blonde watched Peyton, trying to read her. "I want you to tell me the truth. And don't try and hide anything because there isn't a damned thing you can say to me now that'll surprise-"

"Fuck!" Peyton cried, grabbing her stomach. She tried to brace herself against the doorway to keep from hitting the ground, but she collapsed anyway onto her knees under the pain. Lucas stepped back, bending down.

"Peyton?" He said, utterly lost. A voice echoed his own, more urgent, almost angry, after the loud slam of a car door.

"Peyton!" There was a pause, and Peyton couldn't register where she was anymore. Lucas called her again, reaching out to try and hold her up.

"Peyton, what's-"

"I'm pregnant…" The blonde breathed, gasping around the pain in her gut. Most of her weight was in Lucas' hands. "We're pregnant." The blonde woman heard another shrill yell from somewhere behind Lucas… Someone calling her name… And then everything went black.

.


	21. Chapter 21

"Peyton!" Brooke screamed, sprinting up to the house. Her vision went slightly red just seeing Lucas kneeling over Peyton as she passed out. The brunette shook with anger. "What did you do her??" She demanded. "What the hell did you do?" Lucas' hands came up slightly like a robber who had just been caught by the cops.

"I… I didn't-"

"Get out of the way, novel boy. Brooke said impatiently, pushing past Lucas. She knelt down inside the house, Peyton separating the two of them, and lifted the blonde up, holding her against her. "Peyton? Peyton, can you hear me? Peyt-" Brooke laid Peyton back on the ground, leaning over her, and hovered her ear over the blonde's lips. No breath tickled her skin. "Make yourself useful and call 911." Brooke barked. She couldn't derive where her sudden hatred towards Lucas was coming from as he called for an ambulance. And it made even less sense to her why she was blaming him for this at all… But she was, and she couldn't shut off her anger. She knew Lucas loved Peyton, and on that thought, cringed, and pulled the blonde back into her lap again. Brooke turned Peyton's face up, placing their lips together and blowing. The blonde remained unresponsive save for Brooke's breath filling her lungs and causing her chest to rise lifelessly. "Come on, baby, breathe." Brooke pleaded, sealing their lips together again. The second attempt was in vain as well. "God…" Brooke felt tears welling up in her eyes, but she tried to hold them back.

"She's gonna be okay, Brooke." Lucas promised, as if he knew. But in truth he was just as scared as Brooke was, maybe even a little more shocked. He replayed what Peyton had said to him before she passed out.

_I'm pregnant… We're pregnant_.

* * *

Brooke and Lucas sat in silence in the waiting room of the hospital, each as anxious as the other. Lucas sat with his head in his hands, his elbows on his lap, simultaneously raw and numb from everything that had just transpired. Maybe this was a dream. After all, the writer was prone to odd dreams ranging from waking up in the same bed as Chris Keller to going back to the 40s with everyone he knew in Tree Hill… In that case this was obviously just another one of those. He'd wake up in a few minutes.

Lucas glanced over at Brooke. Nope. Definitely not a dream. Dream Brooke would never hold a face like that. That was a face full of pain and anger and genuine fear. There was nothing dream-like about that face, no matter how beautiful one had to admit it was. Lucas' heart sank deep into his stomach.

"Brooke Davis? Lucas Scott?" A doctor called into the room as they walked smoothly into it. "Peyton is awake and stable." He said once Lucas and Brooke had stood and approached him. "You can see her now." The two followed the doctor into the room.

Upon hearing her visitors come in Peyton opened her eyes, turning her head towards the door. She saw Brooke first and smiled, and upon seeing Lucas fast behind the brunette her smile dropped, replaced with panic.

"Hey." She said indirectly, trying to hide her fear. Brooke reached out, taking Peyton's hand in her own.

"Hey, you." She said. "How do you feel?" Peyton thought for a moment, trying to focus on every part of her body to search for injury or the curious tingle of morphine, but found nothing. She smiled again weakly, just feeling sleepy.

"I'm fine." She said, and then the panic came back when she remembered that Lucas was in the room… That he obviously had come _with_ Brooke. "What happened to me?" She asked. Brooke blinked slowly, remembering what she had seen more than what the doctors had said.

"You passed out." Brooke said honestly.

"They said it was from stress." Lucas added, wondering why he hadn't passed out yet if this were the real reason.

"From the baby?" Peyton asked, almost mystified. Both Lucas and Brooke flinched at the mention of the child, but the reaction was relatively subtle. Brooke took in a deep breath and nodded.

"Yeah. But they said you'll be fine and that it's not uncommon." Peyton nodded, looking down into her lap for a brief moment. It was awkward being in a room with the two of them, especially since she didn't have the option of just up and leaving. But what was worse was the fact that she kinda _wanted_ to up in leave, or that the situation was awkward in the first place. These were her friends after all. But speaking of leaving"

"When can I go home?" She asked suddenly.

"They wanted to keep you overnight, but I can take you home in the morning." Lucas heard the possessiveness of the word 'I' in Brooke's words, but tried to think nothing of it.

* * *

"Nathan, have you heard anything from Brooke lately?" Haley called from the kitchen into the living room. She returned to making dinner, waiting for her husband's answer.

"No." He called back. "It's like she disappeared again." And he wasn't far off. The two hadn't heard anything from the young seamstress in quite some time. It was pre-Leyton Wedding all over again.

"Who disappeared?" Jamie asked, walking into the kitchen. Haley turned to him, putting her knife down.

"No one, sweetheart. I just haven't heard from Brooke in a while." Jamie climbed into one of the barstools, sitting at the breakfast bar. He swiveled around in circles.

"Why don't you just call her then?" He asked, looking up at his mom. "She has a cell phone ya know. I think two." Haley smiled, stepping away from the counter and stove to ruffle her son's hair. "Or I could call her since you're busy. Can I, Momma?" Reaching behind her son and grabbing the phone, Haley stuck her hand out.

"Sure. Here' bud." Jamie took the phone excitedly.

"What's the number?" Jamie asked, turning the phone on.

"616." Haley started slowly. Jamie dialed the numbers, repeating after his mother.

"616…"

"77," Haley continued.

"77…"

"92." Jamie put the phone to his ear, waiting for Brooke to pick up. Haley waited too, sure this would be entertaining. Then she heard a voice on the other end, a definite 'hello?'

"Hey Brooke!" Jamie greeted. Haley heard a warm tone answer her son. "Yeah, I was just calling because Momma wanted to make sure that you weren't dead. I- Uh huh… Yeah. Wait, where?" Jamie paused, listening intently. "REALLY? …Oh, okay. Yeah, I'll tell her." He turned to Haley. "Broke says she's okay and that she's sorry for not calling. Right now she's at the hospital with Peyton and Uncle Lucas." Haley nodded, about to smile, when her eyes popped wide open.

"_WHAT_?!?!?!" She yelled, standing up straight. "Jamie, give Momma the phone please." Jamie turned back to the phone.

"I gotta go now. Momma's upset." He handed Haley the phone and slipped off the stool, running into the living room to join Nathan on the couch.

"You're at the _hospital_??? What's going on, Brooke?" On the other end Brooke almost smiled, glad Haley's motherly worry was in reality for nothing.

"Everything's fine, Haley." She said, referring to everything but herself. She glanced into Peyton's eyes. "Peyton blacked out."

"She… Oh my god is she okay? When did this happen? Is she-"

"Passed out. Yes. Earlier today. She's fine now she's just…" The brunette hesitated, questioning Peyton only with her eyes. The blonde nodded, smiling gently, a go ahead. "She's pregnant." Brooke said, trying not to say it through her teeth. Then her eyebrows drew together, her jaw relaxing. "Haley? Haley, are you there? Did you cut out-"

"Yeah, I'm here." Haley answered, so much emotion welling up in her chest she thought it would burst at any given point. She grinned hugely. "You said pregnant, right? As in, there's a baby growing inside her right now?" Brooke nodded, glancing at Peyton now out of the corner of her eye. She sighed.

"Yep. Goldilocks is preggers." She said.

"It's Lucas'…" Haley started. It wasn't even a question, just a statement glazed with mystification and a little understanding… Then a lot of understanding. "Brooke, I'm sorr-"

"Don't, Haley, really." Brooke insisted, stepping outside of the room. She couldn't look at Peyton anymore, and couldn't bear to have this conversation next to Lucas. The hallway was the next best option. "The doctors say she's safe to take home tomorrow. They just want to run a few tests and supervise her overnight. You know how hospitals are." Haley nodded this time, very much so grasping what Brooke was telling her.

"How far along is she?" She asked out of pure curiosity, running a hand through her hair and sticking a chicken in the oven.

"To be honest, I don't know." Brooke said, slightly embarrassed. "She just told me yesterday and I didn't think to ask…" Brooke leaned against the wall, closing her eyes.

"Are you going to be okay, Brooke? Cause you are more than welcome to talk to me if you want." At this, Brooke smiled, opening her eyes again.

"Thanks, Tutor Mom, really, but, I'm gonna have to pass. I don't really wanna talk about it anymore. At least not for a while." Haley hesitated at the rejection of her offer, but managed to push it into Brooke's hands from a different angle.

"Alright." She said. "But the offer doesn't expire in case you ever change your mind." Brooke's smile returned, grateful for her friend's compassion.

"Thanks." She said. "I'll talk to you later, then."

"Sure. Anytime."

"Bye." The two women said in unison, and the lines clicked.

Standing up straight again, Brooke wandered back into the room, pausing when she noticed Lucas was gone.

"Where'd Lucas go?" She asked Peyton. The blonde shrugged.

"Like hell if I know. I was gonna ask you whenever you came back in. Didn't he pass you in the hall?" Brooke shook her head.

"No. I never saw him." She said, suddenly interested in the terribly bland flooring of the room, pacing slowly over to Peyton's bed. "What happened, Peyt? I mean earlier today." Peyton looked Brooke in the face, though the brunette wasn't looking back at her, and thought for a moment. She shook her head.

"I don't know." She said honestly, searching furiously through the foggy memory. "I woke up this morning and you were gone- Where were you, by the way?" Brooke looked up, almost smiling.

"I asked you first, Sawyer." She said. "We can talk about it later, I promise." Peyton nodded, continuing.

"Well, he was at the front door and he wanted to talk to me about us… He wanted closure, to try and fix us. Lucas wanted to know why I left him."

"What did you say?" Brooke asked, finally reaching the bed and sitting on the edge of it.

"Oh well, I told him the truth." Peyton said. Brooke's eyes went a little wide, but only from surprise, not disapproval. Peyton went on. "He wanted to know then if it meant anything to me that I meant everything to him… That's about when the bomb went off in my stomach and everything went black." The blonde looked up at Brooke, trying to read into her. "How long was I out?" She asked.

"A few hours. It's about five right now."

"_Five_? Seriously?" Peyton didn't understand. Five o clock? In the afternoon?

"Are you hungry?" Brooke asked then. Peyton's shock dissolved for a moment.

"That was random. But no. Not at all." She gave Brooke a nauseas look.

"Yeah, you do look a little sick. Are you sure you feel okay?"

"Mmm hmm. I feel fine, actually. If I could I'd have to take me home right now… They're really keeping me overnight?" Brooke nodded at the question.

"But since they're keeping you they're keeping me, too." Peyton smiled warmly.

"Aw, Brooke, you don't have to do that." Brooke eyed Peyton, cocking an eyebrow.

"Do you really think I'm gonna leave you, _Peyton Elizabeth Sawyer_, with _Lucas Eugene Scott_?" The brunette chuckled. "You _must_ be preggers." She said. "You've got the baby crazies worse than Haley did."


	22. Chapter 22

Less than a week later, things were still uneasy. Lucas seemingly dropped out of the picture once he saw Brooke drive off with Peyton from the hospital. Nathan quickly learned about Peyton's pregnancy from Haley, as did little Jamie, and Brooke…. Her darkness had returned.

Peyton came home after a long, yet successful, day with Mia and the young artist's new album. But despite the progress, the blonde was ready for a nice, long, warm bath and snuggle-time with her girlfriend before passing out in either of their beds. But when she walked in the front door, the sea of luggage at her feet extinguished all hopes of executing that plan.

"Brooke?" Peyton called into the quiet house, stepping limberly over the luggage and dropping her purse and keys on one of the kitchen barstools. Brooke came out from one of the back rooms as if on cue, more bags in her hands and infinite tears in her eyes. Upon seeing this, Peyton stepped instinctively forward, reaching for the brunette. "Brooke, what-"

I'm leaving for a while." Brooke said. Her tone was not malicious or angry, just defeated. She dropped the bags in her hands by the others and turned slowly around, not looking at Peyton directly. "You can have the house if you want it. Rent out my bedroom or something-"

"Brooke, what the hell are you talking about?" Peyton's heart was hammering. This couldn't be real.

"I've been trying to deal with this without pushing you away. I've been internalizing the baby for days and… I can't do it, Peyton. The night you told me you were pregnant, I felt my heart stop beating. I wanted to be strong for you because I knew that's what you needed. But once you fell asleep I was awake. I finally had to go out for a drive-"

"That's why you were gone that morning? Honey, why didn't you say something before when I asked you?" Brooke shook her head furiously.

"I didn't know how." She said, still refusing to make eye contact with those deep, piercing green eyes. It would have killed her. "But I can't do this-"

"You can't be serious…" Peyton started as Brooke walked briskly out of the room. She followed her. "So that's just it? You're just gonna walk out on me because of something I did with Lucas before I knew how I felt about you? Before I knew how you felt about me? We weren't even together-"

"Don't give me that, Peyton." Brooke said, the venom coming out in her voice now. It was more potent than Peyton had remembered. "You're _pregnant_. It's not like thieving kisses from high school. It's _way_ more than that." Peyton shut off for a second, the old instinct to protect herself from emotional pain creeping back up again. But old habits die hard…

"Unbelievable!!!" She said harshly. "I thought that when you kissed me on my wedding day that I actually meant something to you. Or maybe when you hunted me down late that night and saved me from drinking myself to death in Tric, that was you giving a damn. Was I wrong, Brooke? Was I wrong to think it significant that you insisted that we live together again? Or-"

"Peyton, don't-"

"Don't what, Brooke? Tell you how much you're killing me right now? Show you how my heart is breaking under the weight of every bag at that front door? Scared that if I say everything out loud that it'll all be on the table? That you might actually have to fight for me?" Peyton felt heat on the backs of her eyes and it only took a fraction of a second for her to realize that the heat was actually forming tears, but she did nothing to stop them from falling. "I'm pregnant." She said, her voice lower now. "And I'm as scared as you are, probably more. But as far as I used to know, I could always rely on my best friend to make shit like this better. What the hell am I gonna do when my best friend and my girlfriend walks out on me? Rent the bedroom she used to sleep in to someone else? I guess I could rent it out to Mia whenever the hell she's in town. And what about when the baby comes, Brooke? What then?" Peyton was almost hysterical, her face and eyes red and dripping with tears. There was a world of pain and fear and anger in her eyes, something close to what Brooke saw after the blonde's mom died, and then again with Ellie. "I need you!" Peyton cried. "And I don't know what changed it but I know that the real Brooke Davis would _never_ break a promise. The real Brooke Davis would fight for whoever or whatever she deeply cared for no matter what the cost, or how long it took." Peyton shook her head and blinked hard, forcing the remaining tears from her eyes so she could see. She took a long step forward, just barely in Brooke's personal space. The brunette was numb with raw emotion, unable to respond, defend herself or even apologize. This, she decided, was what a stroke felt like. No. This _was_ a stroke. "But that Brooke Davis isn't here anymore." Peyton said quietly, looking into Brooke's and forcing the brunette to look back. "If you find her, give me a call. Because I really want her back." The blonde turned then, not giving Brooke any time to respond, as if she physically could have. And as she made her way out of the room, through a corner of the kitchen, and into the entrance way with all the luggage of the floor she knew she wouldn't hear from the real Brooke until some hours had gone by. Maybe even a whole night. And if that's what it took, then that's what it would take. Peyton could live with that.

Gunning her Comet's engine to life, Peyton backed out of the drive way she had pulled into only half an hour before. She was headed for nowhere, wondering in the back of her head what highway took her there. Slipping in her Angels and Airwaves album, We Don't Need to Whisper, the blonde pushed the speed limit, wondering how far she could get before the music stopped.

Old habits really do die hard…


	23. Chapter 23

Haley woke up slowly to the sound of a quiet knocking on the front door. It was early in the morning; the sun wasn't even up, so whoever it was it was definitely not Nathan back from basketball.

The young mother rolled lazily over in bed, sure the person was trying to sell her something and that they eventually would go away. But they didn't. Another soft knock. Sales people didn't knock that gently, Haley knew that much. She rolled over again, sitting up, and padded out into the hallway to open the front door.

"…Brooke?" She asked, realizing then that her idea of a salesperson coming to her house at 4 in the morning was a little out-there. Brooke paying her a visit was more likely. And then she saw the tears streaming down the brunette's face and she was suddenly very awake. "Brooke, sweetheart, what happened to you? Are you alright?" Brooke shook her head no, her arms curling around her chest. Haley stretched out a gentle hand, pulling Brooke inside. She closed the door behind them.

Sitting on the couch with Haley, Brooke was silent for a while, unable to put what had just transpired into words. She kept her eyes trained on the floor.

"Brooke, talk to me." Haley finally said. Brooke bit her lip, trying to fight back the tears long enough to maybe get a coherent sentence out. It was hard.

"She's gone." Brooke said. Okay, so it wasn't a long and detailed sentence, but at least a four-year-old could understand it.

"What do you mean?" Haley asked, bowing over a little to try and make eye contact with Brooke. The taller brunette avoided her gaze.

"Peyton." Brooke said. "I've been having so much trouble with the baby and it's just really been killing me and I…" As Brooke began putting her reasoning into audible words, her earlier intentions seemed less justified than when they had just been in her head. Saying it mounted that much more guilt onto her heart. "I was gonna leave for a while, just until I could get myself together and than she came home and- We got in a fight. It was all the drama you could imagine and before I knew it she was crying and I was too fucking stupid to say anything. I just let her walk away and now she's gone. I have no clue where she is and she's not picking up her phone." And the tears were back, cutting Brooke off again. She looked up, glancing at Haley sideways, and the short brunette could see all the guilt and heartbreak there in Brooke's dark, hazel eyes. It was something she hadn't seen in a very long time.

"Come here." Haley said, opening her arms to Brooke. The seamstress hesitated, for just a moment, and then complied, folding into Haley's embrace. A sudden comfort washed over Brooke and, for just a brief second, she wondered if this was what it felt like to Jamie whenever Haley hugged him. She imagined it was, and then for just another brief second she grieved over the fact that her mother had never possessed a hug like this, or even love like this. But the emotion was fleeting, and she was reminded again of what the real problem at hand was… Peyton. "What am I going to do with you, Brooke Davis?" Haley asked gently. There was no mockery in her tone, just a maternal lightness. She ran her fingers through Brooke's hair, thinking about what the taller woman should do. "I would give Peyton some time." She said. "Cause I know she's gotten a lot better about running away from her problems since high school, but since she just did it with you tonight, that means she's in a lot of pain right now. And I don't know how long it's going to take for her to be balanced out again." Haley looked down at Brooke to see her face and try and read her, and the brunette's eyes were closed. The pain in her face, however, was ever present. "If it would be easier for you tonight, you can sleep with me. Nathan's at practice for the weekend and so there's room in my bed for you. But you don't have to, of course. I just don't want to make it hard on you by having you go back and remember." Brooke's eyes opened, and the gears began shifting in her head. Haley could tell. "It's up to you." The young mother said. Brooke drew away, sighing deeply and then glancing over to the front door. She shook her head.

"Thanks, Haley but I think I'm gonna pass. I don't wanna make you take me in just because you feel sorry for me." The young woman stood up, wiping the tears from her face.

"It's really not a problem, Brooke." Haley promised. "I told you that if you needed me, my offer does not expire. So here we are, and you obviously need me right now…" Brooke watched Haley for a moment, the pain in her heart throbbing with each second that she resisted her friend's offer. Finally, she nodded.

"'Kay." She said. "I'll stay. But only for tonight." Haley nodded, standing up.

"Whatever you want."

* * *

Jamie ran out into the kitchen, having smelled bacon and pancakes all the way from his room.

"Mornin' Momma!" He exclaimed. "You're makin' breakfast?" Haley nodded, a smile growing on her face, and she turned to see her son.

"Sure am, bud. Hope you're hungry." She said. Jamie nodded vigorously.

"Yes. I am definitely hungry."

Just then, the two heard footsteps coming from the hallway. Jamie was the only one to turn, not aware of who it was.

"Brooke?" He asked. "When did you get here?" Haley smiled, having forgotten that Jamie had been asleep and did not know a thing about Brooke's late-night visit.

"She got here last night, Jim-Jam." Haley said trying to draw the attention away from her heart-broken friend. "She and Momma had some things to talk about, and then she decided to stay the night." Jamie's head went back and forth between the two women.

"Like a sleep over?" He asked. Brooke couldn't resist smiling at that one.

"Yeah." She said. "Just like a sleepover. She looked over at Haley. "So. You're making me breakfast, too?" She asked. Haley laughed.

"Yes. I always make breakfast on Saturday mornings for my boys but since Daddy isn't here, I'll make it for you too." The brunette turned off the stove, sliding the last popping slices of bacon out of the skillet and flipping some pancakes onto a giant serving plate. She brought everything over to the breakfast bar. "Eat up." She said, setting the food down. "I'll be right back."

Once he was sure his mom was out of ear shot, Jamie turned to Brooke.

"So why are you really here? Cause I know grown-ups don't really have sleepovers." Brooke paused for a second, staring at Haley's son.

"How old are you again?" She asked. Jamie held up a five with his hand, his mouth occupied with a salty piece of bacon. Brooke nodded, her eyebrows drawn together in disbelief. "Right…" She said. "I just needed to talk to Haley really bad last night-"

"About what?" Jamie asked, reaching for his cup of milk. Brooke paused again, wondering what to say.

"Ummm…" She started. "I needed some help with my company. But then I got really tired and you mom got really tired and I didn't wanna drive all the way back home and-"

"You got in a fight with Peyton last night, didn't you?" Brooke's mouth fell open then, and she was speechless. Luckily for her, though, Haley came back into the room at about the same time.

"How is it? Good?" Jamie nodded, pancake hanging out of his mouth. Brooke nodded too, unable to look away from Jamie.

"Yeah…" She said. "…Really good."


	24. Chapter 24

Peyton stared up at the ceiling of the hotel room she had checked into last minute that night. The place was unbearably quiet, allowing Peyton to hear every labored heartbeat. Every pained thought. It all burned relentlessly, but she couldn't get herself to get up and turn on the TV or the radio. She couldn't bring herself to drown out the sound she hated so much.

Instead, she turned over on the bed, looking out the window towards all the buildings parallel to the one she was in. She examined the number of windows illuminated by a light or more, and then number snuffed in darkness. More windows were lit, giving the buildings a sort of sparkly effect. She wished she felt as good as the buildings looked like they did. But how could she? How could she smile when Brooke all but chewed her out? How could she when she knew now that every time Brooke looked at her, she was angry? Ashamed? Sad? And that was exactly the point. And that was what got the blonde to sit and stand up, approach the window sill and curl up on it. She peered down over the city, not realizing until now how many floors up her room was. In her attempt to distract her heart she mentally noted how beautiful the city was at this hour. In this darkness, the ugliness was in shadow. All the poverty or the trash was in the shadows. Not that there was much of that in this place… But still, when you couldn't see any of it it was better.

Vibration in Peyton's pocket broke the blonde's thoughts and she looked away from the window, retrieving the phone and reading the outer screen.

"B. Davis" It read. Peyton sighed hard, staring motionless at the screen for a few seconds, before tucking it away against her stomach and gazing back out into the night. The vibration stopped soon after that.

* * *

Peyton wasn't asleep 5 minutes before she counted the 4th phone vibration. By now she didn't even have to look to know it was Brooke. But she was to the point of being zombied out, barely conscious and still not wanting a confrontation or to hear Brooke cry just as much as when she was perched on the window sill hours earlier that night. She imagined she had at least 6 voice messages, figuring her phone had rung within the few times she had drifted off to sleep before regaining unwilling consciousness. Her phone paused for just a minute, and then began its urgent shaking again not 30 seconds after it had rested. And though she didn't want to admit it, Peyton wanted to reach over to her nightstand and snatch the thing up, answering it in a rush. But she couldn't, or refused… She listened to the pattern it made against the solid wood furniture. It was in time with her slowed heartbeat… And as it continued it seemed to slow, its sharp sound seemed to soften and warm. And as Peyton found herself growing weaker, her breath lighter and softer, she noticed the buzz of her phone begin to grow silent. The less she could hear it, the heavier her eyelids became, until the only thing to tell her that they were still open were the tears that pressed out from behind them, rolling down her cheeks and onto the pillow.


	25. Chapter 25

He was making it up, Brooke decided. He was drunk; there was a gun to his head; he'd lost his mind completely and thought this would be a joke… A sick, twisted, ungodly joke. But Lucas, as good of an actor as he could be, could never project that pain. Ever. That feeling, that absence in his voice… It couldn't have been more raw.

Brooke dropped her phone, letting it fall to the floor, mindlessly leaving the house to get into her car. She knew where she'd end up. Of course she'd drive out there. But she was fighting the whole way. It was as if she were trapped inside her own body. Like she was having a stroke and sending vain messages to her limbs. Even when she saw red lights, she was unable to respond to them. She hoped, in actuality, that she'd get hit. But with her luck she made it all the way to Lucas' house in one piece.

She knocked weakly on the door, finding it to be unlocked, and walked through Lucas' bedroom. In the hallway, she hardly noticed how violently she was shaking… She was focused more on the blood on the floor. There was so much blood, so much. Blood in Brooke's eyes, hot and deafening in her ears. Everything in her vision was tinted a crimson red.

"Lucas…" Her own voice frightened her, breaking her trance. It was foreign, not her own. The brunette swallowed thickly, continuing and finding Lucas standing alone in the kitchen. He couldn't stand to be in the room with her anymore, Brooke concluded absentmindedly. He couldn't stand to see her. And even though his back was turned to Brooke, the brunette could see the blood on him. But she couldn't get herself to step closer, trapped again in her body, and turned mindlessly around to follow the blood trail she had tried to ignore earlier.

When she got in the room, she was paralyzed. She wasn't prisoner in her body this time, but it was simply that she had no response to an image like this. For a long moment she couldn't even feel shock, let alone the crippling pain that could only come with this. It didn't take long, however, as her mind slowly regained consciousness and the ability the think, the void of her thoughts filled in rapidly like a river on the other end of a breaking levee. In a wave, the brunette collapsed under the assault. Brooke was in a heap on her knees on the floor, not a foot away from Peyton, all tears, anger and pain. She tried to rip out her hair, to break the floor she sat on with her fists, to shatter the windows with her cries. At once she was raw and numb, but her autopilot left her aware enough to be conscious of what she was doing. She reached out, timidly at first, to touch Peyton's shoulder. The blonde gave to the touch, moving towards Brooke without resistance. Her head in turn lulled to the side, her big green eyes now dull and lifeless. They bore into Brooke and the brunette shivered violently.

Her body took over again, seizing all control for several minutes, before Brooke was aware of herself again. She had Peyton in her lap now, the blonde's head cradled in her arm. She brushed hair from Peyton's face, closing her eyes gently, and blinked to try and clear the ever-present tears from her eyes. Taking Peyton's hand gently in her own, she breathed shallowly, biting her lip hard enough to draw blood on the inside. But the sting went unnoticed. It meant nothing, less than nothing, compared to this.

"Peyton…" She breathed, tears blinding her again. The fingers of her free hand lightly touched the blonde's swollen belly, feeling anger towards the unborn child within it for taking Peyton's life like this. Of course, the child was dead now too, and as Brooke flattened her palm firmly but gently against Peyton's stomach, she felt a glint of satisfaction in this realization. The pleasure was short-lived, though, and Brooke felt tears press against her eyes once more.

There were footsteps in the hall then. A slow gate; A pained, heavy, but steady one all the same. When the footfalls ceased, Brooke saw legs in her peripheral vision, but did not turn to look at whose they were. She of course already knew, and looking away from Peyton was an impossible feat.

"It wasn't the baby." Brooke's head snapped up, startled. Even the soft edge of Lucas' voice, especially in sorrowful agony, sliced easily through the weighty silence of the room.

"What are you talking about?" Brooke asked accusingly. This voice she still could not recognize, but it was closer to her own than the one she had heard herself utter earlier.

"The baby didn't kill Peyton." Lucas elaborated. "It was Peyton." The young father was incredibly calm considering himself and the situation. Brooke only shook her head, blinking hard to try and see past her tears. The hand that had rested on Peyton's round stomach now passed beneath her chin, lifting her face up and towards Brooke. The brunette examined that gorgeous face, nothing in her own mind computing. "She killed herself, Brooke." Lucas said. Brooke wasn't watching him, but she sense he was crying too.

"No…" She said finally. And her voice broke into it's own natural tone then. Recognizable as Brooke's Davis' and no one else's. Her true pain finally rang through. She hugged Peyton closer to her. "It can't be-" Brooke cut herself off, looking up to Lucas briefly. Her eyes were back on Peyton immediately, pain stabbing her heart again, and she closed her eyes.

A single tear passed beneath her lashes.


	26. Chapter 26

Haley rolled over lazily in bed, roused by a small cry to her right. She opened her eyes in a single blink, and remembered all in a rush that Brooke had spent the night with her again for the Nth night. Leaning forward without sitting up, the young mother reached out and rocked Brooke's shoulder with a gentle hand.  
"Brooke." She called. "Brooke, wake up." Brooke cried out again, or rather whimpered, and Haley shook her a little harder. "Brooke, sweetheart, you're dreaming." The brunette said gently. Her words were met by silence, Brooke coming sluggishly into consciousness.  
"…Haley..?" She breathed, the grogginess of just waking up prevalent in her voice. There was something else there, too… An excruciating pain… It threaded Haley's eyebrows together.  
"You okay?" She asked, watching Brooke slowly come to, the seamstress' hazel eyes staring off into the darkness. Brooke remained unresponsive, her mind not processing the nothing she saw. She refused, though, to close her eyes, fearing the image of Peyton was burned on the backs of her eyelids.  
"Was it a dream?" She asked quietly. Haley nodded.  
"What happened?" Brooke shook her head immediately, dismissing Haley's question.  
"I'd rather not talk bout it." She said honestly. This time, Haley was the one to lay there in a short silence, thinking hard and chewing on her bottom lip. She sighed, propping herself up slightly, and faced Brooke.  
"You know, my mom and dad always used to tell me to talk about my nightmares right when I woke up from them. They said it made them less real." The short brunette smiled weakly, warmly. "I tell that to Jamie now, and it seems to work for him like it worked for me." Haley paused, looking Brooke in the face, and tried to read her. But the disturbed young woman was heavily guarded, hiding in the dark. She refused too to look at Haley, sure that if she did she'd burst into tears and soak the pillow beneath her head with them. This in mind, she kept her eyes trained up at the dark ceiling, and began slow.  
"Lucas called me, told me to come over because Peyton was dead." The brunette's naturally husky, sexy tone was muted and ripped of all intonation as she spoke. "I got there and saw all of this blood everywhere and….. The house was so quite." Brooke blinked tears out of her eyes. "I found him in the living room and he was bloody. He wouldn't look at me, but I knew he knew I was there and… I turned around and went into the other room and- She.. There she was on the floor. Just completely… Empty. Gone." Brooke paused, forced to watch the dream again as she recapped for Haley. "And her eyes… God, Haley her eyes they were so… Void of anything. No sparkle, no love, no pain just…. God, there was nothing." Brooke's voice picked up a bit, warming to its natural tone. She looked down from the ceiling, around the room, hesitating to let her eyes rest in Haley's gaze. "Lucas found us." She said quietly. "He got down on his knees next to me and told me that the baby hadn't killed Peyton… But that Peyton had killed herself." The brunette couldn't hold the eye contact and she broke away with a slow ease, sighing deeply. "That's about when you woke me up." She finished.

Haley watched Brooke for a brief moment, cautiously picking out her words.

"Brooke… I'm sorry you had to have that dream." She said tenderly, motherly. Then she sighed. "Are you okay now?" Brooke turned her face towards Haley, looking at her directly, her chest and stomach still to the ceiling. She nodded.

"Yeah… Yeah, I am, actually." She said honestly. She was still a little shaken, as anyone would be. Dreams like Brooke's had a tendency to leave a stubborn residue on the mind and heart, surviving anywhere from 10 minutes to an hour after consciousness is regained.

"Do you wanna stay up and talk?" Haley asked. Brooke smiled weakly again, nodding.

"Sure." She said.


	27. Chapter 27

Haley waited patiently for Nathan to answer his phone, wondering when he planned on getting home. She couldn't remember the approximation he'd given her a day or two ago.

"Haley!" Nathan greeted warmly. Haley smiled, laying back on the couch.

"Hi, honey." She said. "How's basketball? I wanna hear everything." Nathan was the one to smile this time, but his smile was significantly weaker than his wife's. He sighed, sitting at the foot of his bed in his hotel room.

"It hasn't been awful." He said. Haley's face fell, reading her husband's voice.

"What do you mean, 'not awful'?" She asked. Her voice was soft and disappointed. "I thought this was going to be a dream come true for you."

"So did I, but… The team's not havin' me just yet, you know? A few of them are a little possessive, too. Plus, my game's a little off. I don't know what the deal is-"

"Nathan, sweetheart, you haven't played on a basketball team in years. Cut yourself some slack. You can't expect to be perfect right off." Haley paused for a moment, thinking about it. "It'll get better." She finally promised. Nathan nodded, Haley's words comforting him, and he lay back on his bed; a mirror image of his wife.

"Yeah, I know." He said quietly, agreeing. Then he changed the subject. "Tell me about you now." He said. "What's been goin' on? How's Jim-Jam?" Haley smiled at the mention of her son.

"Jamie's fine." She said lightly. "I'd let you talk to him but he's at school now-"

"And you?" Nathan asked again. Haley sighed, and then when the wave of everything that had transpired over the weekend hit her again, she rolled her eyes and began.

"Oh my god you have no idea." Nathan laughed, only able to guess the drama Haley had managed to stumble into. "You need to get down here right now, actually, and help me deal with all this Breyton drama that decided to wait until you left to blow up in my face-"

"Breyton..?" Nathan inquired, not following.

"Brooke plus Peyton. You know how Brooke calls us Naley?"

"She has to shorten everything, doesn't she?"

"Exactly."

"So, what's…"

"They're, like, broken up now, or something."

"Wait, what?"

"I don't really know, but I've spent the past three nights with a hysterical Brooke Davis in my bed, and I do not exaggerate when I say that she's a very vocal sleeper." Haley took a breath, closing her eyes. "I love the girl to pieces, Nathan, but she's just so…"

"Dramatic?"

"You know, I'm not even sure if that's the right word for it." Haley said. "And please tell me you're coming home tonight because I need my bed back… Or I at least need to share it with my husband." Haley complained. "I just don't know what to do with her, Nathan. I feel so- Like I can't do anything at all. It's kind of like watching a train wreck from far away… I don't think I've ever seen Brooke in this bad of shape before. At least not since her attack." Nathan thought on the situation for a moment, going through the options of relieving the drama.

"Well," He started as a side-track, "You'll be happy to know that I get to come home today. If you need me to talk to Brooke I'd be more than willing to do it. But as far as Peyton goes, why don't you give her a call?"

Haley's eyes opened slightly. "_Me_?" She asked. Nathan nodded.

"Yeah." He said. "Try and talk some sense into her."

"I don't know-"

"Hales, she trusts you. I'm sure you could get her to listen if you gave her a call." Haley paused for a moment, wondering, working the confrontation out in her head. It _seemed_ like it could go well enough, but Haley didn't know Peyton's condition. For all she knew, the blonde was on a rampage and in another state by now, her phone out of service… Or in a river. The short brunette sighed.

"Alright." Haley said finally. "I'll go ahead and call her and if I can get her to come home, I'll deal with Brooke."

"Okay, good luck. I'll be home before dinner."

* * *

Waiting in line at a Starbuck's for a much-needed coffee, Peyton's phone rang urgently in her jeans pocket. She retrieved it and flipped it open quickly, not pausing to consider or even check and see who was calling her.

"Hello?" She said, realizing then that she should have looked first; the odds that this was Brooke were against her. But she knew that if it was Brooke, she wouldn't be able to hang up on the brunette, and so she braced herself for an awful confrontation.

"Peyton…" Okay. Definitely not Brooke. Thank. God.

"Hey, Haley." The blonde said, little cheer in her voice. Sure, she wasn't talking to Brooke, but Haley's phone call meant she'd have to face the problem directly. Still, a small smile graced her lips as she stepped out of the line.

"Listen, umm…" Haley struggled to come up with a coherent sentence, this call having been everything but carefully planned. "Do you have a minute? I kind of need to talk to you." Peyton's heart pounded just once, sure now she knew where this was going.

"Haley, really-"

"I know you probably don't care, but I've spent the last three nights with Brooke." Haley was starting to feel like she sounded like she was complaining, even though she wasn't. "She can't stand to be at her own house anymore because of where you two are right now. And you can throw the 'this-is-none-of-your-business' card at me. I think that's fair, actually. But Brooke's my friend, and you're my friend and I don't like to see you two hurting… Especially not each other-"

"I really don't think this is a good time…" Peyton trailed off, walking out of the coffee shop and sliding smoothly into her car. She left the engine off. Haley sighed, her mind doing double time to try and figure out how to better persuade Peyton.

"Okay… Okay." She started, sitting down at the island in the kitchen. "Do you remember the one summer when we all thought Brooke was going to have to leave?" Peyton glanced down sightlessly into her lap, and then looked back up.

"Yeah…" She answered.

"Do you remember how broken you were about it?"

"Haley-"

"Or do you remember what it felt like to see her with Lucas after you and he had just broken up? Do you remember talking to me and crying with me about that?"

"I-"

"How lonely you felt in L.A., when all you wanted to do was come home and be home and see her again?"

"Seriously, you-"

"When Brooke was attacked-"

"Haley!" Peyton barked into the phone. A passer-by flinched, and then proceeded to walk away a little faster than they had previously been walking. The young mother on the receiving end of the yell jumped too, not having expected that response. "I get it, okay?"

"No, Peyton. I don't think you do. Because if you did you would've called Brooke back by now, or answered her phone in the first place, or you wouldn't be wherever the hell it is that you are. You'd be here, with Brooke." Haley's voice, though firm, was not in the slightest mean or aggressive. But it did make Peyton's heart skip in a twinge of quilt, her eyebrows knitting together. Every memory Haley had mention resurfaced at the forefront of Peyton's mind, flashing one after the other against the backs of her eyes. The matching emotions flooded her in a rush simultaneously, just as real as they had been all that time ago.

Fighting back tears, Peyton closed her eyes and nodded, knowing her friend was right.

"What do I do, Haley?" She asked helplessly, her voice strained as she fought to keep from crying. Haley relaxed, realizing she was breaking through Peyton's notorious gauntlet.

"Come home." She said simply, warmly. "Talk to Brooke. She wants to fix this, Peyton." Peyton nodded again, trying to smile, eating up everything Haley was telling her. She knew the little brunette meant every word she said.

"Kay," the blonde half-whispered, blinking furiously to clear her emerald vision. "I'll come home." She said.

"Good." Haley said with a light smile, feeling accomplished. "It's time you guys got back together, where you belong."


	28. Chapter 28

Anxiously that evening, Brooke awaited Peyton's return, as Haley had bluntly told her would happen earlier that day. Not knowing what to expect, or exactly when to expect it, Brooke didn't have the slightest idea of what to prepare for. Lighting candles and popping open a bottle of wine couldn't even be graced with the term inappropriate, but preparing Peyton a scene of Brooke on the couch in a sea of tissues was hardly acceptable. So instead, the brunette padded into the kitchen, drank four full glasses of water, paced back and forth for a good half an hour or more, went to the bathroom, and then proceeded to mindlessly pace again in the living room by the stairs. The floor creaked under her weight, but Brooke didn't hear it. The void and chaos of her thoughts deafened her to everything outside of the walls of her skull. An hour went by without her being aware, and by then she was on the couch in the silence of the house. The television sparked no interest in her, nor did the sound system in the other room. She preferred instead to sit quietly, and after another twenty minutes, lay down, with no sound to disturb her.

By 11:30, the brunette had passed out, curled up in a ball at one end of the couch. She was exhausted from a sleepless weekend, but also from round-the-clock nerves and endless guilt. Brooke didn't even notice the lights automatically dim after dictation from their energy-saving timer. She didn't hear the creaks and cracks of the house slowly settling into its foundation. She didn't notice the air turn off and on 5 times on it's own to keep the house at a steady temperature… And if she hadn't heard any of that, Brooke certainly didn't hear the low, aged hum of an engine of the car from 1964, nor did she hear the door of that very same car open slowly, warily, and close with just as much caution. She was deaf to a key in the front door, the sluggish swing of hinges, and the click of a lock. A pounding, hammering heart went unnoticed, keys clinking on the kitchen counter missed. It wasn't until Brooke turned over in her sleep, her unconscious eyes picking up a shadow in the dim light of the room, that she finally noticed something. And slowly, she opened her eyes, looking over, and she lost all ability to define her emotions. She inhaled deeply, unable to resist a weak smile.

"Peyton…"


	29. Chapter 29

Peyton flinched, sighing deeply. She kept her eyes trained on the marble countertop, not looking at Brooke.

"You weren't supposed to wake up," she mumbled, leaning against the island. She fell momentarily silent, the gears shifting numbly in her head. "I don't know what to say to you, Brooke," she said. "I'm pissed and scared and hurt because of what you did… But I'm so tired of it. I don't wanna be pissed and scared and whateverthehell else is running around in my head, especially not at you." The blonde was looking at Brooke now, her eyes sincere.

"Peyton, I-"

"How do I know you're not gonna try and run out on me again?" Peyton asked, and Brooke recoiled, her jaw snapping shut. She looked into her lap.

"I guess you don't…" she started, trying to think like Peyton for a moment. She looked up again. "But you have to trust that I won't."

"But what could stop you? I'm obviously still pregnant, Brooke. It's not like the baby's just gonna up and leave and everything will just go back to normal."

"I know," Brooke said. "That's kinda what makes it hard-"

"How?" Peyton asked, her eyes widening. "How else can I explain it to you? This baby does not make me love you any less. The both of you mean the world to me." Brooke sighed, getting up and coming around to stand in front of Peyton.

"You know how protective I am of you, right?" Peyton nodded. "And how possessive I am?" Again, Peyton agrees silently. "Okay, well, intensify that and you get my reaction to when you ditched Lucas for me. Intensify it more and you get my reaction to the baby."

"…wow…"

"Right, exactly. I was scared, Peyton. How could I not freak out a little?" Peyton smiled a frustrated smile and straightened up.

"Okay…. I'm the one who's pregnant, right? I mean, I am the one with a mini Lucas parasiting off of everything I consume, right?" Brooke caught on to Peyton's sarcasm. "I'm freaking out too, Brooke. It's all just a big clusterfuck , okay? And running away isn't going to fix it… Trust me, I know."

"So, then what does this mean? You aren't… Are we still-"

"Oh, honey, no! I'm not leaving you. I'd never do that ever. I'm just trying to explain to you how bone-headed you are sometimes. And I just want you to give me a little more and be a little brave, especially if I have to." Brooke sighed, a light smile on her face.

"So, then, what do we do now?" She asked. Peyton grinned lazily.

"We sleep," the blonde said. "It's gotta be, like, ass 'o'clock in the morning by now. We can always talk later… When there's daylight."

"Okay," Brooke said. She reached out for Peyton's slender hand, pulling the blonde towards her. "Then let's go to bed," she said, and she leaned up and tenderly kissed Peyton.

Peyton followed Brooke into the bedroom as the brunette turned the lights on.

"Wow," she said, "you actually kept my stuff."

"What?"

"Well, I kinda had this thought where you would throw all my stuff away and I'd come back and you'd have a twin in your room or something." Brooke laughed, slipping into an old school camisole and soffee shorts. She laid down on the bed, watching Peyton's face as the blonde settled down too.

"You're tired, P. Sawyer," she noted. Peyton smiled again in agreement before her attention was directed to the exaggerated curve of Brooke's waist and hips from lying on her side. It was then that she decided that three days was a long time. "Go to sleep," Brooke said, reaching behind her and killing the lights. The both of them quickly settled, Brooke having scooted all the way over on Peyton's side of the bed to snuggle into the blonde's embrace.

"Goodnight, Brooke," Peyton said gently. Brooke sighed, finally really feeling all of the exhaustion from the weekend.

"Goodnight, P. Sawyer."


	30. Chapter 30

Brooke and Peyton were in the car together on their way to Brooke's therapist. If they wanted to avoid separating, they decided a few nights before, then they had to discuss their own issues and resolve them.

"Where is this place, anyway?" Peyton asked, glancing sideways at Brooke.

"Downtown," the brunette answered, turning on the AC. "We're almost there." They came to a stoplight rather abruptly, and Peyton's hand instinctively went to her swollen stomach. "Sorry, P. Sawyer," Brooke apologized. Peyton nodded, blinking slowly and shifting in her seat. Then she smiled.

"It's okay," she said. "I'm fine. The light just came out of nowhere."

"You aren't gonna throw up, are you?"

"No," Peyton laughed. "I'm really alright."

"Okay."

"So, listen… This therapist lady…. Is she, like-"

"She's good." Brooke glanced at Peyton, and then at the light. It turned green. "She helped me through my attack and she was Nathan and Haley's therapist before that."

"Oh…" Peyton said. "Okay." The two kept driving, making a left turn at the next intersection and hitting another stoplight. Waiting for it to turn, Peyton saw movement out of the corner of her eye and turned to see what it was. "Oh, Brooke, look," she said gently. Brooke turned her head to see a young mother and her little girl standing at the corner waiting. The brunette smiled, the little girl reminding her of Angie.

"She's cute," Brooke said.

"Isn't she?"

"Oh, shit." Brooke stepped on the gas, wondering how long she had been waiting while the light was green. Peyton's attention was back on the road too, and then her eyes went to the rearview mirror.

"That guy behind us is giving you a dirty look," she said. Brooke rolled his eyes.

"Oh, whatever. He'll get over himself eventually or I'll just have to-"

"Brooke! Turn-" Brooke didn't even have time to respond before she realized what Peyton was screaming about, and by then there was nothing she could do. She felt her heart speed up to a pace she'd never heard of, and then her vision went momentarily black. When she regained consciousness her little Beetle was turned the opposite way in the street, a huge, black SUV with it's face buried in her car's side. The first thing she saw was Peyton, stretched all the way over almost in her lap given the restraints of the seatbelt, and her eyes were hidden under closed lids.

"Peyton…?" Brooke breathed, ignoring the hard pain in the back of her head when she moved. "Peyton! Peyton wake up!" Brooke ripped her seatbelt off of herself, leaning over to sit Peyton up. The blonde bled from her forehead and through the hair above her temple. A car door slammed shut, but Brooke hardly noticed.

"Oh my god is she…" The person who owned the black SUV stopped short, taking in Peyton's bloody condition first and then seeing the swell of her belly. Immediately he had his cell phone to his ear, waiting for an answer.

"Peyton, baby, please be conscious," Brooke begged, ignoring the pain in her head again. She brushed hair back from Peyton's face, bloodying her hands. She wanted the blonde to open her eyes and just have superficial wounds. She wanted to hear her complain about the sting of a cut. But instead Peyton remained motionless, dead weight against Brooke's support. "Please don't leave me."

* * *

"How is she?" Haley asked, walking quietly into the room. Nathan followed soon after. Brooke turned to see them, but she didn't stand up.

"Fine, I guess," she said, mostly to herself. "But she's still unconscious."

"What happened?" Nathan asked, seating himself.

"We were on our way downtown and the light turned green but Peyton and I were looking at this little girl with her mom. So when I finally figured out the light was green I went, but some jack ass wasn't paying attention and mowed right through us on Peyton's side. I went unconscious for a minute: They said I have a concussion but I'm not leaving Peyton until she wakes up." Brooke looked at her girlfriend for a moment, willing her to suddenly wake up. "God, she was a mess," she said sensitively, unwillingly remembering the image.

"Is she gonna be okay?" Nathan asked. Brooke turned to look at him.

"I hope so," she said. Then she sighed. "But I don't know. They said she suffered head injuries and some of her ribs are bruised…"

"And the baby?" Haley asked cautiously. She knew the subject was tender alone, but now it was hyper-sensitive.

"They didn't tell me," Brooke said. "But they said they'd come back if they could find anyth-" There was a knock on the door before it swung open easily, a doctor walking calmly into the room.

"Ms. Davis?"

"…Yeah-"

"We ran some tests and looked over Ms. Sawyer's scans and everything's going to be fine. She'll be unconscious for a while still but it's nothing she can't recover from." The whole room exhaled in unison.

"But what about the baby?" Brooke asked, looking up at the doctor. She curled her hand around Peyton's limp one, rubbing smooth circles into the blonde's skin with her thumb. Nathan and Haley were both simultaneously intent on the doctor's answer, watching him.

"Well, the baby…."


	31. Chapter 31

It was a strange sound; sort of like sirens under water if that was the only thing to compare it to. But the strangest thing was that the sound slowly changed. It became sharper, as if they were pulling the ambulance out of the water, and then it turned into a steady beeping. If you counted it, there were about 60 beats in a minute, give or take a few, and behind the sound there was a low, steady hum of machinery…

Slowly, Peyton opened her eyes.

The blonde looked around, recognizing quickly where she was, and then her hand flashed up to her stomach. She looked down at it, checking to make sure it had the same swell, waiting for the baby to sense her and to move and signal it was alright.

"Peyton." Peyton looked up to see the face of the voice and smiled, relaxing back into her pillow. Brooke came swiftly over, kissing the Peyton's forehead gently before pressing her lips fiercely to the blonde's. "Oh my god I'm so glad you're awake," Brooke said. Peyton smiled, and then her grin quickly switched over into a look of horror.

"But what about you? You were in the car didn't you get-"

"I'm fine, honey," Brooke said. "You've been out for a long while now and I've had time to heal up."

"But what about the baby?"

"The baby's fine," Brooke said. "They want to run a few more tests on the two of you, and then we get to go home." Peyton sighed, relieved, and was then washed over with elation: The thought of getting out of the hospital was heavenly. She'd spent way too much of her life here..

"…. Good," she said, her consciousness still a little foggy as if she had just woken up from a good long sleep. "Cause I really hate this hospital."

* * *


	32. Chapter 32

Peyton was acutely aware of a new presence in the room as she slowly woke up. The hairs stood up on her skin and her eyes, even though they were closed, were suddenly super sensitive to light and movement. She opened them easily, focusing on Brooke almost immediately.

"Morning…" she mumbled, all of her body not fully awake. Brooke smiled at her, snuggling down into their bed and lying at the blonde's side.

"Morning," Brooke echoed. She studied Peyton for a moment, taking in the way she looked after just waking up. The blonde's skin had a glow to it, her eyes especially bright, and the way her lightly sleep-mused hair framed her face was more beautiful than anything Brooke had ever seen. She leaned over, kissing Peyton gently, and not stopping the blonde when she pulled Brooke closer, deepening the kiss. She laughed.

"Okay, listen," Peyton said, breaking the kiss slowly. I've been home for a while now and I've had a lot of time to think about you and me and the baby and Lucas and…" Peyton hesitated, watching Brooke for any signs of fear or second guessing. When she found nothing, she smiled gently, warmly, holding Brooke's gaze with her own. "Brooke, I want to marry you," she said. Brooke froze, her eyes widening and her eyebrows pulling together, and her mouth fell open in a small, excited smile. A small squee escaped her.

"Yes!" she said. "Yes, yes, oh Peyton, baby-" Brooke kissed Peyton fiercely, one hand at the side of the blonde's face and the other behind her, baring the brunette's weight so she could hover about her girlfriend. "Oh… I'd love to. I'd love to. Yes, P. Sawyer, I do. I will." Peyton smiled into each kiss, her hand strong at the back of Brooke's neck. She was well aware of the baby still growing inside her, feeling it move every few times Brooke brushed against her stomach. She pulled away, looking Brooke in the eyes.

"Then let's get married, baby," she said sweetly, with a lazy smile. Brooke mirrored the expression, pressing a chaste kiss to the blonde's lips before sliding carefully to her side.


	33. Chapter 33

"You're getting married?" Haley asked, her eyes set as wide as they could open. The smile on her face was one Brooke typically wanted to punch off of people's faces, but it seemed less abrasive on her friend. In fact, the taller brunette couldn't resist mirroring the expression, her dimples deep in her skin.

"I proposed to her the other morning-"

"_You_? Proposed to Peyton? Wow."

"I know, shocker, right? The stubborn commitment-fearing girl wanting to get married…" The two friends laughed at their sarcasm, Haley standing up and separating herself from Brooke with the island in her kitchen.

"You thirsty? I have alcohol." Brooke smirked, leaning against the island and waggling her eyebrows at Haley.

"Well in that case…" she said, and the young mother went right to the cabinet that held the 'fancy' glasses. She filled them with wine, holding her glass up once she had poured Brooke's.

"Here's to you, Brooke," she said gently, honestly. Brooke tapped her glass lightly to Haley's, sipping from it immediately after.

"Thanks," she said, setting the glass down. She sighed.

"What's wrong?"

"… Nothing, nothing I just…" Brooke hesitated, looking away from the truth-seeing eyes that watched her worriedly. "It's Lucas," she said. "I love him and I want to tell him and I want him to come and be there with us but… I don't want to hurt him, you know? I mean, our relationship is barely stable as it is… If I throw marrying Peyton at him it'll kill him." Brooke rested her forehead in her palm. Blinking slowly. "I stole Peyton away from him once… How can I invite him somewhere and make him watch me do it again, Haley? I can't do that to my friend-"

"Alright, alright, hold on a second." Haley put her glass down and reached a gently hand out to Brooke, pulling the taller brunette's arm away from her face. She pulled Brooke's gaze into her own. "Okay, Peyton's incredibly important to you, I know that. And Lucas is important to you too, right?" Brooke nodded, trying to listen and not shut Haley out just to hear herself mentally lose it. "And we're important to you too, right?" Brooke nodded again, still fighting the urge to flip. "Well, sweetheart, if that's the case then do what feels right to you. If Peyton asked you to marry her and you want to marry her, then do it! If you love her then show her, Brooke! Don't worry about what anybody else thinks-"

"I can't just forget Lucas exists, Haley," Brooke said, biting back the venom in her voice as soon as she heard it. "I'm sorry… But you know just as well as I do, probably better, that this is nothing that Luke will take lightly. He's loved Peyton forever! I'm surprised he didn't kill me when he found out. So yes, I'd love to just marry Peyton and have a crazy-expensive wedding and buy everything for her and do all this stuff and invite everyone and make it a big things… But I can't. Because I care about Lucas and until I somehow get his blessing, and I'll have to have some kind of Everything God on my side to do that, I'll have this weight in my chest. I mean, you understand, Haley. Remember when you were falling for Nathan and Lucas didn't want you to have anything to do with him? You felt awful for liking him-"

"But here's where I throw this back on you," Haley interrupted. "I finally confronted him and told him that I loved him and I couldn't do anything about it. I told him that Nathan was actually a nice guy and I talked to Lucas about it. I won't lie; he was super stubborn about the whole thing for a long time. But he came around. And now look who's married to Nathan Scott." Brooke stopped cold, completely owned by what Haley had said. Her brow furrowed in frustration, she wasn't a fan of being this incredibly wrong. "All you have to do is talk to him, Brooke. If you talk to him a little bit at a time, and just kind of work him a little bit, he'll come around. You have to let him know everything that you just told me, though… Just be honest with him. You know just as well as I do what a good guy he is. Let that part of him be what helps this whole thing work out." Brooke kept her eyes on the counter top for a second longer before looking up, unable to resist a gentle smile when she met Haley's eyes. She sighed softly, knowing the young mother was right, and nodded.

"…Okay," she said softly. She let her thoughts roam everywhere. "… Okay. I'll talk to him."

* * *

"I'm going to talk to Lucas about us," Brooke said, sitting next to Peyton on their couch. The blonde looked at Brooke, completely lost, and tried to speak twice before anything actually came out.

"…" "……" "…You… What? Brooke, I think he knows-"

"No, no. About us getting married," Brooke clarified. On the word married, Brooke saw Peyton's eyes light up, the sparkle in them heightening incredibly.

"Oh…" she said, her voice simultaneously bright and nervous. The sparkle in her eyes turned to worry. "When?" she asked. Brooke paused, looking into her lap.

"I don't know yet. But I feel like he should know, you know, from one of us. And before the wedding. It wouldn't be fair for him to find out after. I don't want to ambush him." Peyton didn't respond, but instead her mind went racing with ideas and planning. What with the baby and the drugs she was still being administered and the stress from everything else going on, the blonde had seemingly put Lucas on one of her back burners. And it wasn't even until Brooke's mentioning of him and his relevance to their wedding did she really figure it out. This wasn't going to be a happy fantasy wedding where she and Brooke just ran off and got married on the beach and got a new house with a room for the baby. It wasn't going to just be some nice and lovely ordeal, big and white and perfect and easy with everyone there smiling half as big as the newlyweds. It was going to be hard. It was going to be slow. And it probably was going to sting a little bit. The talk with Lucas was what she dreaded more than anything, knowing how exactly it would hit and hurt him. She knew the heart strings it would pull at, and probably snap. She knew what he'd look like when he cried, even if she weren't there to see him do it. She bit the inside of her cheek, not hard enough to draw blood, and squeezed her eyes shut for a brief moment. She opened them slowly.

"Let me do it," Peyton said. Brooke watched her.

"Peyton, you don't have to do-"

"No, I should." The blonde shifted in the couch, struggling around the swell of her stomach. "I left him at the altar that day. I shouldn't hide behind you to tell him that we're getting married. Plus, he and I have a lot of issues that we need to work on." Peyton's hand was already subconsciously on her stomach, rubbing it gently, feeling her baby shift beneath it. "So just let me talk to him, Brooke. The least we can do is let him have his dignity."


	34. Chapter 34

Peyton work up late one morning, about a week later, Brooke's side of the bed empty; the brunette had gone to work already.

She sat up, slowly, awkwardly, the light coming in from the window shining down on her. She sighed, thinking immediately about Lucas after thinking about Brooke. She was supposed to talk to him today, and she half-way regretted talking Brooke out of talking to him for her. It would have been wrong to let her do it, though, Peyton knew, and with this in mind she forced herself out of bed, padding to the shower.

* * *

Peyton waited patiently outside of Lucas' front door, waiting for him to respond to the doorbell. Almost immediately she heard his footsteps coming from around the corner in the hallway, making their way through his bedroom and to the door.

He opened it smoothly, knowing who was on the other side.

"Hey…" he said softly, and his voice was different than Peyton had expected it to be. But, on the contrast, she wasn't really sure what she actually had expected it to be. So she smiled lightly, biting her lip with discretion, and nodded.

"Hi," she said. She struggled to look him in the eye, not having done it for months now. But he broke the eye contact before she did, backing up and opening the way for her.

"Come in," he said, and she followed him inside. The ended up in the living room, sitting somewhat comfortably on the couch there, Peyton looking down at her hands and her belly.

"Listen, Lucas… I'm so sorry for everything that's happened to us and you and I really, really don't want to lose you but I'm scared that when I talk to you I will…" The young mother-to-be was all nerved, unable to even set aside her anxiety to try and study Lucas and read him.

"What… What are you talking about? I don't understand-"

"The reason that I'm talking to you today. I'm nervous about how I know you're going to take it. But I don't want you to freak out on me I just want you to hear me and I want to work with you." The blonde looked at Lucas, diving deep into his eyes and searching furiously for any sign of potential emotional stability. There was a glint of some, but none that could possibly withstand what Peyton was about to say. She bit her lip hard, not noticing the pain, and swallowed thickly. "I'm… I'm getting married, Luke. I'm marrying Brooke-"

"Peyton, you've got to be fucking-"

"Please, please just listen to me-"

"Listen to you for what, Peyton?? You call me up, out of the blue, because you say that you need to talk to me. So I invite you over here and yo come into my house and sit here and look at me and you give me this long thing and I wondering the whole time what the hell it is you could possibly want to tell me that was this important, and you tell me that you're going to marry Brooke? You want me to just sit here and take it and listen to your voice while I can see you leaving me at the altar and running to Brooke's side to marry her instead? You're pregnant, Peyton! That is our child and you're just going to rub it in my face that, not only am I losing the only woman I've ever truly loved, but I'm losing my first kid, too? I can't even-"

"I never said anything about the baby, Lucas! I never said anything about losing me! I just figured that I should tell you instead of having you hear it from the grapevine a month after it's happened. I respect you and love you enough to actually do that. Do you think it was easy for me to come over here, knowing you'd respond like this? You think I liked the idea of breaking your heart again, Luke? Cause you're fucking crazy if you think that I-"

"Then I guess I must be crazy, because I can't figure out why you'd come over here if there is no other reason, Peyton! I just don't get it."

"You don't get- I thought it was the right thing to do! What the hell else would you have liked me to do, huh Luke? I'm in love with my best friend and I'm about to lose one of my great ones, and I'm pregnant with his child. What other option did I really have? Because I sure as hell know that youi would have hated finding out about the wedding any other way. You would have hounded my ass or left Tree Hill for God knows how long and gotten drunk somewhere just like you did with Lindsay! So you can't figure out why I'm over here looking you in the face telling you this? Because I care about you, Luke! And I wanted to be the one who owned up to all the bullshit that's been happening between us and try and make it better." The blonde was standing, tearing up but refusing to cry in front of her ex. "I assume you want me to leave now?" she asked, her voice uneven. Lucas' head was in his hands, his mind racing faster than he could comprehend it. He rubbed his face, remaining seated, and looked at the floor by Peyton's feet.

"Yeah," he said, his voice foreign even to him now. And, without another word, Peyton turned and left, closing the door behind her quietly and gently, heading as swiftly to her car as her pregnant body would let her.

__________________________________________________________________________________

Please don't demonize Lucas, guys, because I know some of you want to and some of you already have. I don't mean for him to be the antagonist at all, so please just be nice to him. This is just another rough patch in the story… Work with me here.


	35. Chapter 35

"Nathan, I can't get through to him!" Peyton cried, slumping against a wall in the tall young dad's living room, leaning her head back and staring up at the beautiful ceiling. Her eyes were wet with frustration, her jaw tight, her brow furrowed. She squeezed her eyes shut for just a moment, before opening them and turning her head, staring straight into Nathan's face. Her gaze startled him, with its intensity, its desire for an answer. He sighed, standing up, assuming the Lucas Scott Hands-In-Pockets position, and looked at the floor briefly. "He's in the toughest spot he could be in right now, Peyton," the brunette said honestly. "You can't expect him to take this lightly-"  
"I can't help who I love! I don't have control over this stupid heart locked up in my chest! I never…… ever wanted to hurt him. Ever. But I love Brooke, and she wants to marry me. How can I say no to her?" It was a damn-good question, one Nathan, for a long while, could not answer. He paused, opened his mouth two or three times, paced about the room, watched Peyton for a second, and then sat down on the arm of the couch. He sighed, defeated.  
"I…. I think you should give him some time and try him again. He cares about you, Peyton. He loves you and he wants you to be happy. I can see it in him. But, I mean Peyton, come on! You of all people should understand what's going on in his head-" The brunette knew immediately, before he was even done, that his words were striking the wrong key, for Peyton's eyes opened wide and her eyebrows lowered, her body stiffening. She glared at him, emotional and lacking patience, and was about to turn and leave. "Peyton, wait, don't leave. It's not like that." The blonde watched Nathan with a thin, observant eye, before relaxing and slumping onto the ground. She sighed.  
"I'm sorry…" she said lightly. "I'm just so…. I just don't know what to do, you know? And I came to you because you know Lucas better than Brooke or anyone except for Haley but she's working and I just-"  
"Hey, don't freak out. It's fine, Peyton, really. Just… give him some time, let me and Hales ware on him a little bit, and then try him again. He'll come through. That's something I can promise you." Peyton half nodded, looking away for a moment to gather herself, before meeting Nathan's gaze and smiling very weakly. She nodded again.  
"Okay," she said with a sigh. And then she looked at the floor close around her. "But could you do me one favor?"  
"Sure. What?"  
"Can you help me up?"

"What's going on? You called me a couple of times today…" Haley said as she walked into the kitchen. Nathan leaned back against the island, embracing his wife once she had put her things down.  
"It's Lucas… and Peyton." Haley's face fell.  
"Oh no, what happened?"  
"Nothing, nothing it's just…. You and I have a little mending work to do, if you're up for it." Haley looked at Nathan sideways, suspicious. She cocked an eyebrow.  
"What do you mean?" she asked. Nathan smiled gently, looking down for a moment.  
"Peyton came over to talk to me today. She doesn't know what to do about Lucas and Brooke it's… really tearing her apart."  
"Oh… Is she, like, really bad-"  
"No, she's pretty good. She just doesn't know what to do after Lucas ran her off the way he did."  
"Well, what did she expect? For him to just say okay?"  
"I said the same thing to her. But you know how she is, Hales. If _you_ asked her to marry you she'd probably say yes." This comment, of course, earned Nathan a heavy thwap on the arm, little Haley Scott glaring only half-mockingly up at her husband.  
"Don't mock her," she said, an involuntary smile creeping onto her face. She stepped away from Nathan, settling onto a bar stool. She sighed, looking blindly at the floor, thinking hard. This, of course, was a clusterfuck, if she were allowed to think such a thing. Anything involving Peyton, some poor other soul, and love was going to be. But how to fix it this time was the issue. Haley knew that this time, with the web Peyton and her love-triangle had weaved, any resolution was going to be beyond hard to find, especially considering who Lucas was. She pursed her lips, frustrated. "What's your plan?" Nathan chuckled, shaking his head.

"That's the problem," he said, " I hadn't really come up with one-"

"Well, I think we have a little bit of time to figure something out, Nathan," Haley said gently, with a motherly certainty. Nathan sighed.

"A little bit is right," he agreed.


	36. Chapter 36

Haley walked into Brooke's old store, surprised to see the brunette there, let alone to find the building opened up. She looked around, not having been here in months, trying to gain a sense of her surroundings, before she called out to her friend.

"Brooke? Hey, Brooke? You in h-" Before the young mother could finish her sentence, she heard the strong click-clack of fierce, 4-inch spike-heel stilettos against the dulling wooden floor march in from the back room. The brunette the gait belonged to looked up, a smile on her face when she saw Haley.

"Hey, Haley! What are you doing here?" Haley smiled, adjusting her bag on her shoulder before molding into Brooke's light embrace.

"I could ask you the same thing, Ms. Davis," she said, "I thought you gave the company to Victoria and closed this place down." Brooke sighed, looking down before walking away and dropping some papers behind the front desk.

"I did," she said. "But I left without cleaning everything out. There's still tons and tons of stuff in the back that I just left because I was so fed up with it all." The brunette sighed heavily, rolling her eyes, before snapping out of her mood and smiling with huge sarcasm. She crossed her eyes to lighten the moment, forcing a laugh out of Haley. "But then I realized that I actually wanted this stuff, so… Here I am!" Brooke thumbed through half of the paper stack, separating the massive thing into to two stacks, before paying attention to her friend again. "But seriously, what brings you here, Tutormom?" Haley, almost immediately, blushed and smiled, stepping closer to the front desk and leaned against, it ignoring the layer of dust that had gathered on its surface.

"Well, I heard from a little birdie that you may or may not have proposed to a certain Peyton Sawyer-"

"Where did you hear that!" Brooke exclaimed, nearly jumping over the desk. She was wide-eyed and smiley, her hands flat and anxious against the countertop.

"A bird, that's all-"

"Was that bird's name Peyton?"

"No…"

"Skills?"

"No-"

"It was Mouth, wasn't it??"

"Brooke, how could Mouth possibly know, he hasn't been in Tree Hill in months."

"…oh. ……Lucas?" Haley didn't even have to say anything, but instead just gave Brooke a look. "Right… Well, then, it was Nathan!" Haley smiled. "Oh, it was so Nathan! How did he know?" Haley straightened up, biting her lip.

"Peyton talked to Nathan after Lucas blew up in her face-"

"She did? She didn't say a word to me…"

"It was a few days ago, sweetheart, she probably didn't want to bother you."

"But what'd she want?"

"She didn't know what to do, and Nathan knows Lucas better than… Me, probably. So she went to him to help." Haley paused, watching Brooke over work this new information in her head. "No, Brooke, it's fine, really. Don't freak out on me I can see you already trying."

"I just feel so bad… I sprang this on her one morning and she hasn't really said a word to me about it and now you're telling me that she's freaking out-"

"Okay, I definitely did not say freaking out… Where are you going?" Brooke left the papers on her desk, shouldering her bag and pivoting skillfully on her heel.

"I'm gonna go talk to her," she said, her voice softer than before. She turned her head to look behind her at her friend before looking into her purse and digging for her keys. She picked one off of the ring and tossed it to Haley. "You can stay as long as you want, and if you want anything from the back I did make some pieces specifically for you, so there's a bin back there. Just lock up when you're done and I'll call you tonight, okay?" Under normal circumstances, Haley would have fought Brooke on the taller brunette's hasty escape, but she understood what was going on in her heart and knew that she had to deal with it immediately, and so she simply nodded and let her go.

"Okay. I'll leave my phone on."


	37. Chapter 37

Broke came home just as Peyton was walking out the door, the two nearly crashing into each other on their separate ways in and out.

"Peyton, where are you going?"

"I was gonna go talk to Lucas… You're home early-"

"I need to talk to you," Brooke said gently, the concern easily readable in her features. Peyton looked at her sideways, sizing her up, before sighing and taking a smooth step back into the house, allowing Brooke inside. The brunette closed the door behind her. "Haley told me what happened…"

"What happened with what?"

"With Lucas. She said when you tried to talk to him he blew up in your face." Peyton shrugged and nodded, walking over to the couch and sitting down as gracefully as she could. Brooke joined her, perching easily on the couch's arm.

"I didn't expect much less, you know? This is a big deal, everything that's going on and I knew damn well that he wasn't just gonna sit back and smile and nod like everything was gonna be okay. You and I both knew it- Wait, how does Haley know?"

"Nathan talked to Haley after you talked to him." Peyton rolled her eyes and slumped further into the couch. "What's wrong?"

"So everyone knows now?" Brooke smiled, amused.

"Well, everyone except for Mouth, Millicent and Skills, yeah. Why? You make it sound like such a bad thing-"

"I don't know, Brooke. I'm just so stressed out right now and I didn't want everyone to know right away and there's just so much damned drama… The fact that you even proposed to me is so huge I can't even get my mind around it and… damn it…" Peyton wiped tears from her face, pissed at the hormones that were making her to freaking emotional about everything. It was driving her crazy. She just wanted it to stop. Brooke slid off of the arm of the couch, squeezing in between in and her girlfriend, pulling her close. She kissed the blonde's hair.

"I didn't mean for this to be stressful for you, P. Sawyer. I just love you so so so much and I wanted to be yours forever." Peyton smiled at this, leaning her head against Brooke. She started crying again.

"I love you, too," she said. Brooke's hand slid down to rest on Peyton's stomach, and the blonde moved her hand to rest it on tops of Brooke's in the same place. "And I'm so glad that I've had you for all these years. I don't know what I would have done without you…."

"You would have been just fine," Brooke said, gently.

* * *

Peyton was at Lucas' house the next day with a new resolve and determination. This time was going to be different. She had Brooke behind her back now, a strong and definite support in an unstable and emotional situation, and she felt that very support when Lucas finally opened his door.

His face fell upon seeing Peyton's face.

"What do you want, Peyt?" he asked, leaving the door open and walking away from it. At least he left it open…

"I want to talk to you," the slightly shorter of the two blonde's explained, coming into the house. She felt Brooke's support in her head and in her heart with each step she took forward.

"You already did that, you know. And it was bad enough the first time so why don't you just-"

"Because I can't, Lucas. Because I can't." Her voice was strong and firm, and it forced Lucas to stop walking away (he was going to reach the other end of the house soon enough anyway) and turn around to face her. He looked her in the eyes, his gaze faltering her confidence. She took a deep breath. "I can't because I need you to tell me it's okay," she said.

"…what?"

"Brooke proposed to me, but I cannot feel right about saying yes until I hear the words from you telling me it's okay." Lucas was shocked, not having heard these words before. They were entirely different from what he heard in their last conversation, and they were words he simply could not fight against, for they were not hostile. His face softened, but the anger was still there. He shook his head.

"How the hell am I supposed to do that? How can you expect me to be okay with something like this? You left me, Peyton! I can't just forget that and tell you to go marry someone else, Brooke of all people." The words were venomous, and Peyton recoiled at them, but she was determined to win him over.

"Okay. What don't you understand about what I'm trying to do here? I'm over here, twice now, trying to get you to hear me, because I care about what you think. I'm in love with Brooke, she has proposed to me, and I can't say yes until you do. You won't find another woman like that anywhere! You couldn't ask another woman to do that! So all I'm asking you is to say yes. I want you blessing, Lucas. I want you to be at the wedding. I want to share this with you because I care about you. I respect you and I love you and I don't want you not to be a part of my life, okay? Do you get that? Cause that's all I'm trying to do. It's not like I'm sneaking around and getting married behind your back! I came to you first thing…"

"… I guess I wish you would have," Lucas said, and his words shocked Peyton. Her confidence, then at that point, went to shit. "And maybe you should."

**Just a side note****:** The plot was changed just a little. Brooke proposed to Peyton. This is just to clear up any confusion. Also, I'm very sorry for my inconsistency. I'm a busy girl. I'll continue to update whenever I can. Keep reading. Thanks for your patience.


	38. Chapter 38

A week went by since Peyton had talked to Lucas, the blonde having clammed up about the issue. She didn't know what to make of it anymore. She wanted Lucas' blessing so badly, and the way he blew her off broke her heart. She used any excuse to keep away from everyone, especially Brooke, after that. If she felt remotely well enough to work, she went to work, or if there was a way to drive somewhere, walk in a park that was obnoxiously out of the way, she'd go. Of course, just like any other way that Peyton might try to escape the rough patches in her life, her behavior certainly did not go unnoticed.

Brooke came home from clearing the last few things from her store early, slipping inside quietly so that Peyton would not know she was home. She stepped cautiously, knowing where the floor squeaked and where it did not, until she was at her and the blonde's bedroom door. Peyton, who had been lying on her side staring blankly at the bed, quickly closed her eyes in hopes that Brooke had not seen her awake. But, of course, her acting was in vain, and the brunette came into the room and sat on the edge of the bed with a small smile. She reached out, tucking hair behind Peyton's ear and running her fingers through the blonde's straightened locks. She exhaled.

"I know you're awake, Peyton," she said, and the blonde had flinched as soon as she heard Brooke speak. She swallowed thickly; opening her eyes, but did not turn to look at Brooke. She sighed, not saying anything. "You wanna tell me what's goin' on with you?" Brooke kept running her finger tips through Peyton's hair, a soothing effect. Peyton shook her head. "C'mon, talk to me." Brooke settled into the bed, lying on her side. Peyton turned over, with difficulty, feeling the weight of her baby when she turned onto her back… She found comfort on her other side. She was quiet for a long time, not wanting to say what she knew she needed to say. She figured that if she said it out loud, it would be truer, and she didn't know how she was going to handle that. But the look in Brooke's eyes, the desire to be in the blonde's head and know what she was thinking and what was going on, forced her to speak.

"He said no, Brooke," she said softly. There was a pain in her voice. "I told him I wanted him to be there. I told him I didn't want to sneak around and do this behind his back… And then he said he wished that I would." Brooke frowned, somehow hoping that she would have heard something different.

"Well…" she was at a loss for words, trying to quickly come up with some easy response to make Peyton feel better. "Um…" It was more difficult than she had thought it would be. "This is hard for him," she said, "you can't expect him to just jump into-"

"I know, I know…. It's just really hard. Cause I want him to be a part of this. I want him to be a part of us."

"Yeah, I know. But that doesn't mean that just because he doesn't like it that we can't be happy, or that you can't be happy. And you'll never know; maybe he'll come around. Don't let him control what you do, though, Peyton. Trust me. If all you're thinking about is someone else's happiness, you'll never be happy." Peyton thought on this for a moment, and then nodded slowly. She inhaled and sighed, shifting to snuggle into Brooke. The brunette smiled, amused.

"You're right, Brooke," she said. And then she smiled hugely, thinking about the wedding. She chuckled. "We're getting married."

* * *

"Are you excited about being a bride's maid or _what_??" Brooke asked, strutting into Haley's kitchen. Haley turned, her back now to the sink, with a half-confused smile.

"How the hell did you get in here?" she asked, her smile growing. Brooke smirked.

"_Magic_," she stage whispered. "But are you?"

"Well, of course I am… wait, did you and Peyton figure things out with Luke?" Brooke's face fell immediately. She sighed, slightly pouting, and slumped onto one of the bar stools by the kitchen island.

"No," she said. "He's being Lucas Pensive Broody Scott and told Peyton to just have the wedding. He's not coming, and he'd rather her have done it without even telling him." Haley's brow furrowed and she came forward, sitting opposite Brooke.

"Well, you can't expect him to just jump right into-"

"Yes, yes, I know, I got it. But it's just so frustrating! It's like nothing in this godforsaken town is ever just _doable_! It's like everyone has to jump through 16 flaming hoops into a giant tiger's face, and that's for the simple stuff!" The brunette shook her head. "It's absolutely ridiculous."

"But, then, what are you guys going to do?" Haley asked.

"Oh, we're still getting married, hence the bride's maid question. And if Lucas decides to come, which I guess he won't, then that's the way it's gonna work out. If not, then he won't be there." Haley looked at Brooke closely, surprised by what she was saying.

"Brooke, this doesn't sound like you-"

"I know." The brunette sighed, leaning against the counter top. "It's just that this whole thing has Peyton messed up like you wouldn't believe… She hadn't been talking to me hardly at all for a long time. But I finally got her to open up the other day and we both came to this conclusion. Don't get me wrong: I'd love more than anything for Lucas to be there. It'd be so good to share something like this with him. But that isn't the way it's going to work out, you know? And it sucks so bad and I hate it but… I'm not going to not get married just because it upsets him. I mean, you did the same thing when you married Nathan, you know?" Haley nodded, agreeing with Brooke's defense completely. It made sense, after all. It was exactly what she had done with Nathan. She loved him people didn't like it, but it didn't matter. And that was what was important. She smiled.

"Well, I am behind you the whole way, Brooke. I just want you to know that." The short brunette paused, a thought popping into her head. "You aren't going to make me wear an ugly bride's maid dress, are you?" Brooke immediately gave Haley a look.

"Do you know who you're talking to?" the brunette asked.

"Right…." Haley smiled, laughing. "Sorry."

* * *

"I really like blue, gold, brown and white… Would you be okay with that combination or is that not broody enough for you?" Brooke asked teasingly. Peyton smiled and roller her eyes, leaning forward to over look all of the colours combinations Brooke had put together.

"I think it's gorgeous, but I really like the red and ivory, too." Brooke's eyes darted over to that sample, thinking seriously about it.

"Okay, well, at least we've narrowed it down to two choices-"

"Shit! What time is it?" Peyton asked. Brooke grabbed her cell and slid it open.

"Almost four, why?"

"My appointment is today at four."

"Oh… Shit! Oh, I'm so sorry. I got all distracted with the colours that I completely forgot-" Brooke was already standing, helping Peyton up, and heading to the door as she spoke.

"It's fine, really. The hospital isn't that far away."

"Yeah, but we still need to haul ass," Brooke said, closing and locking the door behind them. Peyton smiled.

"Then let's haul ass."

* * *

"Peyton, everything looks pretty good, the baby's in good health, but there's something that we found that we'd like to run some tests on-"

"Wait, what's wrong?" Peyton asked, her face tense. Brooke's face mirrored her girlfriend's. The doctor but her lip, not looking directly at the blonde. She sighed.

"We don't quite know yet, that's why we need a blood sample so we can figure it out. All we know it that there is abnormal activity in your reproductive system-"

"Wait, _now_? But how?!" Brooke asked, "She's _pregnant_! Shouldn't all that be asleep or something-"

"Just let us draw some blood and run some tests and we'll be able to answer all of your questions. What you know is about as much as we know at this point." Peyton gripped the cushion beneath her, looking down.

"Great…" she mumbled.

"Now, Peyton, if you would just follow me, we'll draw a little bit of blood and figure everything out, okay?"


	39. Chapter 39

"No," Brooke said flatly. It was a simple word, only one syllable, and yet it had so much gravity, so much significance, and her face matched its intensity. "No, no you're not." Peyton turned around, almost charging Brooke and backing the brunette into the front door; they had just gotten home from the hospital.

"No I'm not what? Not having the baby that's already too far along to get rid of? Not having the baby that will mean the world to me? Not having the baby that-"

"It's going to kill you!" Brooke yelled, fighting back. Her sudden movement almost knocked Peyton off balance. She stood up straight, almost measuring up to the blonde. "And there is no way in hell that I am going to lose you to some unborn-"

"They said it might not kill me, Brooke." Brooke stopped; her eyes wide, her muscles stiff. She was about to cry.

"Do you hear yourself? It _might_ not kill you? I can believe I'm even having this conversation with you! You listen to me; one way or another, we're going to abort that baby. That's just it. That's how it's going to work-"

"No, Brooke. You listen to me." Peyton stepped forward, towering over Brooke and looking hard down into her eyes. "This is my child. This is my life. This is my body. And everything's going to be just fine. I'm going to have this baby, and the three of us are going to be a family." The blonde backed down a little bit, sighing and rubbing her stomach. She bit her lip, and then started to turn away. "I don't want to talk about this anymore."


	40. Chapter 40

Brooke went out early that following morning, unable to watch Peyton sleep, or be near her at all for that matter after what had happened at the hospital the other day. She turned the handle, stepping out easily into the fresh air and warm sunshine, and as she turned away from the front door after locking it she stopped, startled, and let the storm door slam shut on its own. She hesitated, cocking her head gently to the side, her eyes squinting in confusion.

"… Lucas?" she asked. "Hey, what… what are you doing here?" The dirty-blonde was leaning against Brooke's car, which still hadn't been fixed from the accident from weeks before, with his arms crossed. He watched Brooke for a moment, his face surprisingly unreadable, before straightening up. He didn't come forward.

"I was wondering if you needed a mechanic to help fix your car." Brooke stepped, more like stumbled, off of the front step, barely catching herself before face-planting into the front yard.

"You were what now?" she asked. She walked towards him, completely lost. "You've practically exiled me and Peyt and you want to do what?" There was hardly any anger in the young brunette's voice. It was more mal-informed expression, like a child that only wanted to learn. Lucas only bowed his head, rubbing his hand back and forth over his hair. He then stuck his hands in his pockets.

"…." He struggled for words. "… Yeah, I guess." He said. Brooke half-smiled and cocked an eyebrow at him, popping a hip and resting a delicate hand on it.

"Well, okay Mr. Scott," she started, "Why don't you tow my car to your shop, and on the way there you can explain to me what the hell fell on your head between your last talk with Peyton and now." Lucas laughed at this, having half-way already known it was coming. He left his hands in his pockets, standing up independent from Brooke's severely injured car.

"You busy right now?" he asked. Brooke gave him another look, before shrugging.

"Well, no. Not really. I was just gonna go anywhere to try and get away from Goldilocks."

"Why?"

"We, um…." Brooke bit her lip hard, trying to stop herself from telling Lucas the bad news about Peyton and the baby. "Uh…. We got into an argument- Seriously, Lucas, why are you fixing my car?" Lucas stalled in answering, sighing and rocking on his heels. He shrugged.

"It's what I do," he said. And that was all he said, not even with a smile.

* * *

"Hey, Nate," Lucas said as his brother walked into the room.

"Hey, man-"

"Uncle Lucas!!!" Jamie exclaimed, barging into the room. He ran up to his uncle, smacking into his legs. Lucas smiled, first down at Jamie and then at his brother.

"Hey, buddy," he said.

"Are you sure it's cool if he stays with you for a few hours? Cause you really don't have to-"

"It's fine, Nathan, really," Lucas said. He looked down at his nephew. "Besides, I haven't seen him in a while." Lucas ruffled Jamie's hair, much to the boy's distaste.

"Okay, then. I guess I'll see you guys later tonight, then," Nathan said. He waved to his son.

"Bye, Dad!" Jamie called, staying by Lucas. When his dad was out of sight, he turned to his uncle with a huge grin. "So what are we doing?" he asked. Lucas smiled, grabbing a wrench from his toolbox.

"We're gonna fix Aunt Brooke's car," he answered. Jamie's eyes immediately light up, mystified.

"Cool."


End file.
